THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


HAVE  WE  A  FAR  EASTERN 
POLICY? 


OTHER  BOOKS  BY  THE  SAME 
AUTHOR 


MODERNIZING  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

FRENCH     MEMORIES    OF     EIGHTEENTH- 
CENTURY  AMERICA 

STAINED  GLASS  TOURS  IN  FRANCE 
STAINED  GLASS  TOURS  IN  ENGLAND 
A  STAINED  GLASS  TOUR  IN  ITALY 


Have  We  a  Far  Eastern 

•WMM* 

Policy? 


BY 

CHARLES  H.    SHERRILL 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

HON.    DAVID  JAYNE  HILL,  LL.D 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1920 

«« 


US  51 

5  S'i 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  April,  1920 


TO     THE     MEMORY     OF     MY     BELOVED     PARENTS 

CHARLES  HITCHCOCK  SHERRILL 

AND 

SARAH    WYNKOOP  SHERRILL 

31  JDtbtcate 

THIS    BOOK    UPON    LANDS    WHERE    VENERATION    OF    ANCESTORS 
IS   THE    CORNERSTONE    OF    CIVILIZATION 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  AT  THE  PACIFIC  CROSSROADS    ....  1 

II.  SOME  MENTAL,  GEOGRAPHY        ....  22 

III.  A  BRIDGE  OF  BOATS 35 

IV.  LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK        ....  60 

V.  SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS   AND    THEIR 

THOUGHT  ....          105 

VI.  JAPANESE     PILGRIMS     AND     THEIR     PIL- 
GRIMAGES     141 

VII.  SHANTUNG  AND  KOREA  VERSUS  THE  WHITE 

PERIL 168 

VIII.  THE  YELLOW  PERIL  BOGEY      .      .      .      .193 

IX.  A  PHILIPPINE  REPUBLIC? 214s 

X.  A  JAPANESE  POINT  OF  VIEW       ....   244 
XI.  THE  FIVE  STRIPES  OF  CHINA'S  FLAG  .      .    253 

XII.  AND  WHAT  OF  AUSTRALIA  ? 282 

XIII.  SOME  CONCLUSIONS  .  .   297 


INTRODUCTION 

As  a  diplomatist  and  as  an  author,  General 
Sherrill  does  not  require  to  be  introduced  to  the 
American  public.  His  books  are  well  known  to 
the  lovers  of  a  fascinating  branch  of  art  and  to 
those  who  are  interested  in  international  ques- 
tions. In  the  present  volume  he  displays  a  com- 
bination of  the  qualities  which  characterize  his 
earlier  writings,  a  fine  sensibility  to  form  and 
color,  and  a  grasp  of  great  political  issues. 

To  those  readers  who  have  not  traversed  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  visited  its  picturesque  islands 
and  Asiatic  coastlands,  this  book  will  be  a  de- 
lightful voyage  of  discovery,  and  even  those  who 
have  lingered  long  in  the  countries  described  will 
deem  it  a  privilege  to  see  them  anew  through 
the  eyes  of  so  keen  an  observer  as  General  Sher- 
rill. But  the  chief  value  of  this  volume  does 
not  consist  in  the  vividness  with  which  Oriental 
life  and  its  conditions  are  depicted,  nor  in  the 
narrative  of  the  writer's  personal  experiences. 
It  is  a  distinctively  personal  book,  but  in  an 
altogether  different  sense. 

It  is  written  with  knowledge,  but  it  overflows 

ix 


x  INTRODUCTION 

with  imagination.  It  is  not  merely  what  the 
writer  sees  and  causes  us  to  see  that  most  ap- 
peals to  our  interest,  it  is  what  he  thinks  about 
what  he  has  seen  and  the  significance  of  the  peo- 
ples he  describes  to  themselves,  to  the  future  of 
America  and  to  the  world.  He  has  striven  to 
understand  as  well  as  to  observe,  and  to  help 
us  to  realize  the  problems  of  the  lands  of  the 
Pacific. 

As  an  economist  closely  conversant  with  the 
commercial  life  of  his  own  country  through  long 
and  extensive  contact  with  its  chambers  of  com- 
merce, and  especially  as  a  diplomatist  habituated 
to  consider  the  interests  and  the  opportunities 
of  American  enterprise,  General  Sherrill  has  a 
claim  upon  our  attention  which  the  ordinary 
traveller  does  not  possess.  He  visualizes  the 
Pacific  as  a  new  and  vast  field  for  the  develop- 
ment of  future  civilization,  in  which  the  East  and 
the  West  must  of  necessity  commingle,  in  some 
sense  as  co-partners,  and  in  some  sense  as  rivals. 
He  has  chosen  a  great  and  timely  theme  and  he 
has  given  it  an  attractive  exposition. 

In  entering  into  this  field  General  Sherrill  has 
of  necessity  raised  many  questions  which  are  of 
a  controversial  nature.  It  is  in  his  treatment 
of  these  that  he  appeals  most  strongly  to  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  men.  Japan,  China, 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

the  Philippines  all  furnish  opportunity  for  differ- 
ences, and  even  for  conflicts  of  opinion.  He  has 
to  contend  with  much  ignorance,  prejudice,  and 
opposition  of  interests.  In  this,  I  am  sure,  he 
neither  needs  nor  desires  a  defender.  He  has 
spoken  out  valiantly  for  what  he  believes  to  be 
true,  and  has  not  hesitated  to  support  any  belief 
because  it  may  in  certain  quarters  be  unpopular. 
It  adds  to  the  pleasure  of  penning  these  words 
of  introduction  to  General  Sherrill's  book  to  feel 
the  assurance  that  he  speaks  on  every  subject 
with  firm  conviction;  and  it  cannot  fail  to  com- 
mand the  respect  of  every  reader  that,  while  he 
perceives  and  appreciates  the  dangers  latent  in 
the  problems  of  the  Pacific,  he  counsels  caution, 
moderation,  and  fair  play  on  all  sides,  in  spite 
of  prejudice,  as  essential  to  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific. 

DAVID  JAYNE  HILL. 


FOREWORD 

CERTAIN  great  world  movements  which  had 
their  birth  in  1867  have  always  had  especial  in- 
terest for  the  writer,  for  he,  too,  was  born  then. 
In  that  year  William  H.  Seward,  that  farseeing 
Secretary  of  State,  purchased  Alaska  from  Rus- 
sia— "Seward's  Folly,"  they  called  it,  but  it  made 
a  Pacific  Ocean  power  of  us.  Also  the  four 
hundred  millions  of  gold  it  has  since  yielded 
proves  "Seward's  Folly"  to  be  the  most  profit- 
able investment  we  ever  made.  In  1867  Bis- 
marck concluded  his  arrangements  to  double 
Prussia's  striking  power  by  adding  to  it  that  of 
Austria,  reduced  to  submission  by  her  defeat  the 
year  before.  Thus  really  began  the  great  Ger- 
man Empire,  for  after  this  1867  birth,  the  defeat 
of  France  in  1870  and  the  crowning  of  a  German 
Kaiser  were  but  public  confirmation  of  an  estab- 
lished fact.  1868  is  the  birth  date  of  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada,  since  become  a  Pacific  Ocean 
Power,  and  destined  by  the  similarity  of  her 
Asiatic  immigration  policy  to  that  of  Australia 
and  our  West  Coast  to  demonstrate  with  us  the 

xiii 


xiv  FOREWORD 

strength  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  racial  tie  in  pre- 
serving peace  around  the  great  western  ocean. 
In  1867  Sir  Charles  Dilke  predicted  that  "the 
relations  of  America  and  Australia  will  be  the 
key  to  the  future  of  the  Pacific."  Admiral  Jelli- 
coe  has  recently  recommended  that  the  principal 
naval  base  of  the  British  Navy  be  transferred 
from  the  North  Sea  to  Singapore,  the  western 
gateway  to  the  Pacific,  and  Australia  and  Can- 
ada will  probably  control  the  future  policy  of 
that  mighty  force  in  those  waters.  In  October, 
1867,  the  last  of  the  long  line  of  Japanese  Sho- 
guns  resigned  his  power,  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment passed  from  the  hands  of  Viceroys  direct 
to  the  Emperor,  and  thus  was  born  the  new 
Japan. 

And  what  has  happened  since  1867?  The 
Pacific  Ocean  has  seen  come  to  power  two  great 
autocracies,  Germany  and  Japan,  and  three 
democracies,  the  United  States,  Canada  and 
Australia.  One  of  these  autocracies,  Germany, 
after  a  vigorous  acquisition  of  Pacific  Colonies, 
has,  because  of  unwise  leadership,  disappeared 
from  that  ocean.  The  other  autocracy,  Japan, 
because  of  wise  leadership,  is  to-day  growing 
in  power  more  rapidly  than  ever  before.  This 
surviving  and  advancing  autocracy  shares  the 
control  of  those  waters  with  the  world's  greatest 


FOREWORD  xv 

democracies  —  the  United  States,  and  Great 
Britain,  represented  by  Australia  and  Canada, 
all  speaking  the  same  language  and  with  the 
same  traditions.  It  is  high  time  we  turned  our 
gaze  westward  and  gave  consideration  to  the 
situation  there  as  readjusted  by  the  great  war. 
The  United  States  is  bounded  on  the  south  bv 

•f 

the  Monroe  Doctrine,  on  the  east  by  our  oppor- 
tunity of  service  to  stricken  Europe,  on  the  north 
by  the  Anglo-Saxon  racial  tie,  and  on  the  west 
by  the  Japanese  problem.  Of  our  western  out- 
look alone  we  know  but  little,  and  should  know 
more.  Now  that  the  arbitrament  of  arms  has 
decided  the  question  against  whose  decision  all 
Europe  was  long  arming,  the  next  great  question 
that  confronts  the  world  and  especially  ourselves 
is — shall  the  Pacific  Ocean  continue  pacific? 

In  the  following  pages  are  some  suggestions 
resulting  from  nearly  a  year's  travel  and  observa- 
tion around  the  Pacific's  shores  and  upon  its 
islands.  They  are  the  views  of  an  earnest  be- 
liever in  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which  teaches  that 
nations,  like  individuals,  should  mind  their  own 
business,  something  which  cannot  be  done  unless 
we  first  learn  what  our  business  is  and  needs. 
Never  so  much  as  to-day  have  our  people  evi- 
denced so  widespread  an  appreciation  of  what 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  means,  has  meant,  and  can 


xvi  FOREWORD 

mean  to  us.  But  are  we  equally  enlightened 
concerning  what  our  policy  should  be  upon  and 
across  the  Pacific? 

CHAELES  H.  SHEREILL. 

20,  East  65th  Street, 
New  York  City. 


HAVE  WE  A  FAR  EASTERN 
POLICY? 


HAVE  WE  A  FAR  EASTERN 
POLICY? 

CHAPTER  I 

AT   THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

DID  you  ever  think  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as 
the  pitcher's  box  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  or  as  the 
crossroads  refreshment  pavilion  where  products 
and  sights  of  all  those  far-flung  lands  could  be 
sampled  without  bothering  to  visit  them?  Per- 
haps the  first  viewpoint  will  throw  light  upon  the 
problem  of  power  in  the  Pacific,  and  the  second 
beckon  you  thither. 

In  the  first  place,  let  us  lay  out  our  diamond. 
The  home-plate  will  be  California,  and  from  there 
we  will  run  our  base  line  out  to  Japan,  which  will 
be  first  base.  No  scoring  will  be  possible  unless 
you  get  to  and  around  that  point.  The  first 
baseman  may  sometimes  play  a  little  off  his  base, 
so  as  to  cover  more  territory,  as  baseball  men 
say.  When  he  does  that  he  will  be  standing  on 
China!  Second  base  will  be  our  Philippine  base. 
It  is  essential  to  have  a  good  player  covering  this 

1 


2  AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

bag  so  as  to  handle  throws  from  the  home-plate 
(California)  to  head  off  runners  coming  around 
from  first  base  (Japan),  for  nobody  will  ever 
endanger  the  home-plate  if  you  can  throw  him 
out  at  second  base.  The  first  man  we  played  in 
that  important  position  (May  1,  1898),  Admiral 
Dewey,  was  one  of  the  sharpest  infielders  we  ever 
had,  careful,  but  quick  to  act  on  his  own  initiative, 
and  especially  good  at  completing  a  play.  His 
first  move  was  to  put  out  a  Spaniard,  who  thought 
himself  safe,  but  was  not  used  to  quick  play, 
and  immediately  thereafter  he  put  out  a  German 
Admiral,  who  tried  to  steal  the  base.  Third  base 
is  Australia.  This  difficult  position  is  being  well 
covered  by  a  player  who,  although  comparatively 
new  at  that  corner  of  the  diamond,  learned  the 
game  on  other  fields  where  Anglo-Saxon  sport 
prevails.  He  is  a  fine  hitter,  as  appears  from 
his  sending  430,000  men  to  fight  in  France  from 
his  population  of  only  five  million,  and  that,  too, 
without  conscription!  The  pitcher's  box  (our 
Hawaiian  Islands)  did  not  favor  efficient  pitch- 
ing until  the  great  naval  base  at  Pearl  Harbor 
was  completed,  but  now  it  affords  every  facility 
for  speedy  delivery  of  the  ball,  not  only  to  the 
home-plate,  but  also  to  any  corner  of  the  dia- 
mond. The  pitcher  (the  United  States  Navy) 
is  growing  stronger  all  the  time,  has  excellent 


AT   THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS  3 

control  of  the  ball  and  is  well  trained.  He  is 
especially  experienced  at  strike-outs,  is  good- 
humored,  never  quarrels  with  the  umpire,  and 
the  longer  the  game  the  better  he  pitches.  He 
says  he  feels  quite  at  home  in  his  new  pitcher's 
box,  and  is  ready  for  work  the  moment  there  is 
a  batter  up.  That  concludes  a  baseball  view  of 
international  strategy  around  the  Pacific. 

A  relief  map  of  the  island  of  Oahu  reveals  at 
a  glance  the  natural  advantages  of  Pearl  Har- 
bor. Imagine  three  large  harbors,  side  by  side, 
and  opening  into  each  other,  lying  four  miles 
inland,  reached  from  the  sea  by  a  single  deep 
channel  through  the  coral  reef,  sufficiently  wind- 
ing to  be  easily  defended  and  yet,  thanks  to  the 
steepness  of  its  coral  banks,  giving  deep  water 
right  alongside  all  the  docks.  So  deep  is  it  that 
when  the  entrance  channel  was  being  dredged, 
the  contractors  actually  dumped  the  refuse  into 
the  middle  of  the  harbor,  because  the  water  there 
was  over  200  feet  deep.  Built  into  the  side  of 
one  of  the  three  harbors  is  a  great  drydock,  long 
enough  to  receive  a  thousand-foot  ship,  if  and 
when  she  ever  comes  along.  It  took  nine  years 
to  build,  and  it  looks  it.  The  wireless  plant  is 
so  powerful  that  it  talks  with  the  Eiffel  Tower 
in  Paris!  The  facilities  for  coaling  and  oiling 
ships  are  of  the  very  latest  type.  Around  the 


4  AT   THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

outside  of  the  great  coal  piles  runs  a  high  con- 
crete wall,  reminding  one  of  the  exterior  of  a 
huge  modern  college  football  stadium.  You 
imagine  that  its  strength  is  intended  for  defense, 
but  are  surprised  to  learn  that  you  are  really 
looking  at  the  elevated  shores  of  a  dry  lake, 
built,  so  that  if  the  coal  within  gets  afire,  it  can 
be  flooded  and  the  fire  promptly  extinguished. 
To  one  motoring  back  of  and  above  Pearl  Har- 
bor, through  the  miles  on  miles  of  pale  green 
sugar  cane  or  the  long  stretches  of  greenish  silver 
pineapples,  the  great  harbor  looks  like  three 
peaceful  Scottish  lakes,  with  peaked  hills  thrown 
around  about  them,  but  nature's  "protective 
coloring"  is  but  camouflaging  one  of  the  world's 
great  strongholds,  not  only  for  defense,  but  also, 
if  necessary,  for  decisive  offense.  The  accom- 
panying map,  with  steaming  routes  and  distances 
laid  out  upon  it,  show  that  Pearl  Harbor  bears 
the  same  relation  to  the  Pacific  that  Malta  does 
to  the  Mediterranean.  It  is,  however,  of  far 
greater  strategic  significance  here  than  is  Malta 
in  its  waters,  because  the  Pacific  distances  are  so 
much  greater  that  a  naval  force  intending  to 
launch  an  attack  against  our  side  of  that  ocean 
dare  not  leave  Hawaii  unreduced  behind  it. 
Coaling  or  oiling  for  a  trip  across  the  Pacific, 
and  naval  operations  thereafter,  is  a  problem 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 


6  AT    THE    PACIFIC   CROSSROADS 

which  lies  far  beyond  those  of  Mediterranean 
dimensions. 

So  much  for  the  baseball  view  of  the  Pacific, 
in  which  we  have  gazed  upon  that  distant  scene 
from  the  bleachers  beloved  of  all  American 
youth,  and  have  cheerfully  contemplated  possi- 
bilities of  a  contest,  which,  in  our  heart  of  hearts, 
we  hope  will  never  come  to  pass.  Now  for  our 
second  digression  from  the  beaten  path  of  tourist 
description — what  about  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
as  a  refreshment  pavilion,  standing  at  the  cross- 
roads of  the  Pacific,  where  travellers  may  sample 
the  viands  and  life  of  all  its  furthermost  corners. 
I,  alas!  spent  but  five  weeks  in  that  anchored 
Paradise,  but  it  needed  only  one  day  to  justify 
' "refreshment"  as  an  exact  description.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  think  of  Hawaii  as  merely  a 
stop-over  point  on  the  way  to  the  Orient,  and 
not  as  worth  a  visit  for  itself  alone.  You  can 
sample  the  Orient  by  visiting  Hawaii  and  going 
no  farther.  Its  110,000  Japanese  generally  wear 
their  native  costume,  have  their  temples,  gardens, 
etc.,  and  so  do  the  numerous  Chinese  population, 
likewise  the  Koreans  and  Filipinos.  The  Japa- 
nese and  Chinese  shops  are  fascinating.  To 
complete  the  picture,  trees,  plants  and  fruits  of 
the  Orient  grow  about  you  in  profusion,  brought 
hither  to  save  the  lazv  traveller  from  further 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS  7 

travel.  There  are  no  snakes,  and  there  are  a 
great  variety  of  automobile  drives.  The  original 
missionaries  (thanks  to  whom  the  islands  are  now 
American)  must  have  had  trouble  describing  to 
the  natives  a  heaven  more  alluring  than  the  land 
in  which  they  were  living!  You  have,  of  course, 
heard  that  the  climate  is  nearly  perfect — com- 
fortably warm,  but  constantly  tempered  by  a 
northerly  trade  wind — is  practically  the  same 
in  every  month  of  the  year,  confining  its  extreme 
ranges  within  59°  and  89°  on  the  thermometer. 
A  tropical  land  where  Caucasians  can  work  in 
the  fields,  and  where  no  malarial  mosquitoes 
exist — think  of  it!  But  have  you  heard  that  the 
rain,  although  sufficient  to  keep  vegetation  beau- 
tifully green  and  clean,  has  the  pleasing  practice 
of  descending  so  gently  and  without  sun-obscur- 
ing clouds  that  it  is  locally  known  as  "liquid 
sunshine,"  and  never  necessitates  an  umbrella! 
Sunstroke  is  unheard  of,  and  yet  the  sea  is  so 
warm  (averaging  74°)  that  one  stays  in  the  surf 
with  utter  disregard  of  time  limitations  usual 
at  Atlantic  beaches.  Furthermore,  moonlight 
swimming  parties  are  comfortable  and  popular. 
The  Coney  Island  joys  of  "shooting  the  chutes" 
pale  before  those  of  riding  a  surfboard  or  an 
outrigger  canoe  through  the  Waikiki  waves ;  you 
might  as  well  compare  a  wooden  hobby-horse 


8  AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

with  a  gallop  in  the  open  air!  I  have  been  there 
in  August,  in  January  and  September,  and  there 
seemed  but  little  difference  in  the  climate,  even 
for  swimming,  for  the  shallow  water  inside  the 
long  reef  is  sun  heated  to  about  the  same  tem- 
perature the  year  round.  The  daytime  warmth 
is  comfortably  offset  by  the  cool  nights,  which 
always  necessitate  the  use  of  a  blanket. 

You  see  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  justify- 
ing our  use  of  the  word  "refreshment"  in  describ- 
ing Hawaii,  and  the  accompanying  map  shows 
that  "crossroads"  is  equally  well  selected.  From 
us  to  the  Orient,  from  Australasia  to  Canada,  or 
any  way  that  one  crosses  the  Pacific,  it  is  con- 
venient, nay,  almost  necessary,  to  touch  at  Hono- 
lulu, so  they  all  do  it,  and  you  have  only  to  sit 
there  and  watch  them  arrive — ships  of  all  sizes, 
from  every  sort  of  land,  manned  by  every  type  of 
sailormen.  The  entire  merchant  marine  of  that 
great  ocean  serves  as  delivery  wagons  to  Hawaii's 
front  door.  If  you  want  anything,  they  bring  it 
to  you,  and  frequently  they  make  delectable  of- 
ferings which  you  did  not  know  about,  and  for 
that  reason  alone,  did  not  theretofore  want.  If 
you  have  Missouri  blood  in  your  veins,  and  desire 
to  be  "shown,"  here  follow  sundry  specifications. 
That  delectable  pink  peptonized  melon  on  your 
breakfast  table  is  the  papaya,  and  originally  came 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS  9 

from  Australia,  where  it  is  called  pawpaw.  The 
picturesque  ricefields  with  their  small  squares  of 
soft  greens  moved  hither  overseas  from  China. 
The  favorite  banana  here  (they  have  thirty  vari- 
eties, and  there  are  fields  on  fields  of  them)  came, 
the  shorter  ones  from  China,  and  the  taller, 
grown  near  the  houses,  from  Brazil.  The  bird 
that  looks  like  a  mocking-bird  wearing  yellow 
spectacles  is  the  myna  of  India.  The  swift-flying 
blue-gray  dove  is  Australian.  The  pointed 
nosed,  rakish  oxen  patiently  plowing  acres  of 
innumerable  small,  ankle-deep  rectangular  ponds 
for  rice  or  taro-plants  are  the  caribao  of  the 
Philippines,  friendly  to  brown  skins  but  truculent 
toward  pale-faces.  And  so  it  is  with  the  abun- 
dant plants  and  trees,  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
varieties,  assembled  from  all  over  the  world,  use- 
ful or  beautiful  or  quaintly  interesting.  Here 
may  be  seen  the  spreading  banyan  of  India,  each 
tree  a  grove  in  itself,  sacred  to  the  Brahmins 
because  it  was  into  a  banyan  that  Brahma  was 
transformed.  On  May  15th  it  is  worshipped  by 
all  Brahmin  women.  With  rare  catholicity  there 
also  grows  alongside  of  it  the  peepul  tree,  under 
which  India  believes  that  Buddha  was  incar- 
nated, or,  if  you  are  a  Burmese  Buddhist  and 
believe  that  this  fact,  so  significant  to  the  Far 
East,  occurred  under  an  asoka  tree,  that  also 


10         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

grows  here.  American  women  know  the  ylang 
ylang  perfume ;  here  they  may  see  that  obliging 
tree  which  not  only  yields  them  the  scent,  but 
also  garlands  for  their  South  Sea  Island  sisters, 
while  its  soft  white  wood  serves  for  canoes  in 
Samoa  and  tom-toms  for  the  Malays.  For  the 
newly  arrived  tourist  the  most  outstanding  color 
effect  comes  from  the  trees,  the  masses  of  yellow- 
ish red  of  the  royal  poinciana  of  Madagascar, 
or  the  yellow  of  the  Ceylon  poinciana,  or  the 
wistaria-shaped  blossoms  of  three  trees  meeting 
together  from  distant  points, — the  golden  shower 
of  Ceylon,  the  pink  shower  of  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  and  the  pink  and  white  shower  of  India. 
Over  eighty  species  of  palm  adorn  the  land- 
scape, chief  among  them  being  the  royal  palm 
of  Cuba,  forming  stately  avenues  whose  color 
and  marking  suggest  columns  of  poured  concrete 
topped  by  green  waving  capitals;  the  Chinese 
fan  palm;  the  traveller's  palm  of  Madagascar; 
that  world-citizen,  the  date  palm ;  and  most  grace- 
ful of  all,  indigenous  to  these  islands,  and  there- 
fore welcoming  to  its  shores  its  foreign  cousins, 
the  gracefully  leaning,  swaying  cocoanut  palm. 
Other  native  trees  are  the  koa  or  Hawaiian 
mahogany,  used  extensively  for  furniture,  its 
reddish  honey-colored  wood  taking  a  high  polish ; 
the  intensely  hard  ohia,  with  tough  fiber  and 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS          11 

moisture-proof  quality  fitting  it  excellently  for 
fenceposts,  railroad  ties  and  fine  flooring;  the 
hau,  whose  branch-interlacings  make  it  impene- 
trable in  the  forest,  but  very  useful  for  arbors 
and  pergolas  when  grown  "in  captivity";  and 
lastly  the  kukui,  of  both  practical  and  aesthetic 
service,  for  a  string  of  its  oily  nuts  burnt  one 
after  another  used  to  provide  lights  for  the 
natives,  while  its  pale,  heart-of-lettuce  foliage 
brightens  the  hillside  gullies  in  odd  fashion, 
putting  high  lights  where  one  expects  deep 
shadows. 

The  Australian  flame  tree  vies  in  its  strong 
vermilion  with  the  frequent  hedges  of  gayly 
striped  and  mottled  croton  shrubs  from  the 
Moluccas  or  Spice  Islands.  Among  the  plainer 
but  more  useful  immigrants  are  the  West  Indian 
monkeypod  tree,  affording  a  shade  as  grateful 
as  it  is  wide-spreading ;  the  endurable  Kauri  pine 
of  New  Zealand ;  that  other  useful  shade  tree  the 
Tahiti  umbrella  tree,  its  dark  green  foliage  en- 
livened by  an  occasional  red  leaf;  the  breadfruit 
tree,  with  its  succulent  food  product  and  decora- 
tive foliage  of  deeply  dentated  leaves ;  fiber  plants 
for  fishnets,  ropes,  etc. ;  and  best  of  all,  the  alga- 
roba — the  al-korab  of  Palestine,  whose  pods  or 
husks  fed  the  swine  tended  by  the  Prodigal  Son, 
and  which  since  its  arrival  in  1828  has  spread 


12         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

all  over  the  islands.  You  see  Chinese  and  Japa- 
nese children  everywhere  filling  their  little  bags 
with  algaroba  pods.  And  the  flowering  vines! 
their  profusion  is  bewildering — a  wild  orgy  of 
coloring!  I  shall  never  forget  the  aspect  of  a 
house  out  beyond  Fort  Shafter  smothered  in  in- 
terlacing bougainvillea  and  alamander — a  start- 
ling glory  of  purple  and  yellow  to  make  even 
Bakst  jealous. 

Now  does  the  reader  agree  with  our  use  of  the 
word  "refreshment,"  or  has  he  no  eyes  to  be 
refreshed !  Nor  need  one  seek  out  all  this  beauty ; 
it  lies  at  hand  all  about  you.  Take  the  trolley 
from  Honolulu  out  to  Waikiki  Beach,  and  for 
four  miles  you  ride  between  gorgeous  hedges  of 
oleander,  hybiscus  or  glowing  croton  plants, 
shadowed  by  flowering  trees  or  gorgeous  vines. 
And  in  such  prodigal  profusion!  Oahu  College 
is  shut  in  from  the  street  by  a  mile-long  hedge 
of  night-blooming  cereus,  whose  wealth  of  great 
white  blossoms,  slowly  opening  as  the  dark  comes 
on,  suggest  the  illumination  of  many  electric 
lights ! 

Man,  or  rather  woman,  has  had  about  as  much 
to  do  with  assembling  all  this  beauty  as  nature, 
and  other  cities  will  do  well  to  pattern  after  the 
"Outdoor  Circle  of  Honolulu."  The  energetic 
women  who  compose  it  have  not  only  succeeded 


AT   THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS         13 

in  improving  street  cleaning  methods,  and  then 
in  beautifying  those  streets  by  public  and  private 
planting  of  decorative  trees,  shrubs  and  flowers, 
but  also  have  reduced  to  the  vanishing  point  dis- 
figuring advertisement  signs.  This  last  reform 
was  effected  by  applying  the  economic  boycott 
system ;  and  it  worked  as  promptly  as  efficiently. 
This  same  "Outdoor  Circle"  also  carried  on  a 
successful  campaign  to  abolish  tenements,  with 
the  result  that  they  have  been  replaced  by  num- 
bers of  cheap  but  sightly  and  comfortable  bunga- 
lows, adapted  to  the  climate  by  ample  provisions 
of  verandas,  or  lanai  (as  they  are  called  in 
Hawaii) ,  life  upon  which,  in  the  midst  of  hanging 
baskets  of  vines  and  flowers  is  there  so  general 
and  beneficial.  Just  as  the  Dutch  of  old  New 
York  City  loved  and  lived  upon  their  stoop,  or 
door  steps,  so  the  Hawaiian  spends  all  his  leisure 
time  on  his  lanai. 

Not  only  can  all  these  charming  things  be  seen 
from  near  at  hand,  but  also  from  a  number  of 
scenic  viewpoints,  more,  in  fact,  than  any  other 
charming  place  can  boast.  Drive  or  walk  up 
Pacific  Heights,  or  the  higher  Tantalus  Road,  or 
that  oddly  shaped  extinct  crater  hospitably 
known  as  the  Punchbowl,  and  not  only  will  you 
look  down  upon  unsurpassed  scenes  combining 
sea,  mountain,  foliage  and  color,  but  also  upon 


14         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

frequent  developments  of  those  delights  while 
mounting  and  descending.  If  by  nature  you 
enjoy  surprises, — prefer  to  take  your  strong 
drink  in  one  startling  gulp,  ask  to  be  taken  to  the 
Pali.  What  is  the  Pali?  You  will  drive  for 
half  an  hour,  1200  feet  up  the  Nuuanu  Valley, 
through  a  throng  of  handsome  homes  set  in 
handsomer  grounds,  up  past  the  cosy  Oahu 
Country  Club,  all  the  fairway  of  whose  golf 
course  has  turf  like  English  putting  greens 
(honest!  I  am  a  golfer  myself),  up  through  a 
rapidly  ascending  mountain  pass  growing  con- 
stantly narrower  until  it  reminds  you  of  Ther- 
mopylae. Nothing  in  the  slowly  closing  moun- 
tain walls  promises  anything  of  a  view,  nay, 
it  forebodes  the  opposite — all  is  quiet  and  con- 
fined. A  sudden  turn  of  the  road  brings  you 
into  a  perfect  blast  of  wind, — you  look  down — 
impossible!  Spread  out  below  you  is  one  of 
Nature's  most  stupendous  views — bleak  moun- 
tains 3500  feet  high  herding  between  them  smil- 
ing valleys  far  beneath,  sloping  gently  out  to 
the  smiling  sea,  into  which  are  thrust  rocky  head- 
lands. It  is  told  of  the  conqueror  King  Kame- 
hameha  that  in  his  last  fight  against  the  Oahuans 
he  drove  their  army  slowly  up  this  pass  and  then 
over  this  rocky  precipice.  A  sudden  end  to  a 
great  struggle,  and  as  you  listen  to  the  groaning 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS         15 

and  moaning  of  the  high  wind  that  always  blows 
here  the  story  seems  very  real  and  present. 

Little  is  definitely  known  of  the  early  history 
of  the  islands  or  their  folk.  Fortunately  they  are 
a  musical  people,  and  it  is  from  the  words  of 
their  old  songs  handed  down  through  many  gen- 
erations, that  we  learn  of  their  past.  In  this  man- 
ner, from  history  embalmed  in  song,  we  gather 
enough  to  permit  the  conclusion  that  the  islands 
were  settled  about  500  A.  D.,  by  Polynesians 
from  the  South  Seas,  who  came  across  the  great 
stretches  of  water  in  fleets  of  rude  canoes,  steer- 
ing by  the  stars ;  and  that  there  were  two  distinct 
periods  of  migration,  the  first  purely  legendary, 
and  later,  after  a  considerable  interval,  another 
one  from  either  Samoa  or  Tahiti  or  both,  in  the 
llth  or  12th  century.  Why  was  this?  Were 
there  shifts  in  the  ocean  currents  which  only  at 
times  favored  such  voyages  in  that  direction? 
And  if  so,  when  and  why  were  those  favoring 
conditions  altered?  A  systematic  study  of  the 
subject  is  now  under  way  and  enlightenment 
therefrom  is  confidently  expected.  It  is  clear 
from  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  Hawaii- 
ans,  from  their  customs,  and  from  their  language 
(which  is  similar  to  that  of  the  Maoris  of  New 
Zealand)  that  they  come  of  that  great  Poly- 
nesian stock  whose  original  home  is  believed  to 


16         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

be  the  island  of  Savaii,  one  of  the  Samoan  group. 
Those  interested  in  such  ethnological  studies  will 
find  a  treat  in  store  for  them  in  the  Bishop 
Museum,  where  are  many  examples  of  the  kapa 
or  tapa  clothing,  beaten  out  by  women  from 
soaked  bark,  and  dyed  or  stamped  with  patterns 
carved  on  bamboo;  kahili,  or  colored  feather 
standards  carried  as  emblems  of  rank;  plans  of 
temple  ruins;  and  best  of  all,  those  marvellous 
feather  capes,  all  yellow  and  scarlet,  priceless 
because  two  feathers  only  grew  on  the  breast  of 
a  single  bird.  These  capes  took  years  to  make, 
and  by  computing  the  cost  of  the  labor  expended 
thereon  plus  that  of  the  great  number  of  birds 
necessary  (which  were  rare),  it  is  calculated  that 
a  large  cape,  such  as  a  king  wore,  is  worth  over 
a  million  dollars.  They  are  kept  in  a  specially 
designed  safe  of  large  dimensions  adapted  for 
convenient  display  of  its  treasures. 

A  Hawaiian  landscape  would  not  be  complete 
without  a  sugar  cane  field  or  great  stretches  de- 
voted to  pineapples.  Not  only  do  they  delight 
the  optic  nerve  but  also  that  other  most  important 
nerve  which  stretches  from  the  heart  to  the 
pocket,  for  in  1919  the  sugar  crop  yielded  the 
Hawaiians  the  tidy  sum  of  $88,000,000  and  the 
pineapple  one  $23,000,000.  Both  of  these  ample 
money-earners  are  18-month  crops. 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS          17 

Hawaiian  statistics  tell  a  long  story  in  brief 
compass.  They  reveal  that  these  two  principal 
crops  demonstrate  a  continuing  development  in- 
telligently directed,  for  against  the  latest  figures 
just  given,  pineapples  in  1916  brought  but 
$6,632,914,  while  in  that  same  year  the  sugar 
crop  only  fetched  fifty-four  millions,  and  in  1910 
but  forty-two.  The  Hawaiians  have  left  no  scien- 
tific stone  unturned  to  improve  those  products. 
The  best  obtainable  chemists  are  constantly  at 
work  upon  problems  of  soil,  drainage,  plantings, 
etc.  One  of  the  results  thereof  is  that  their  aver- 
age sugar  cane  yield  per  acre  is  over  four  tons 
(6l/2  on  irrigated  land  and  3a/2  on  non-irrigated) , 
while  in  Cuba  it  is  only  a  little  over  two.  And  in 
Cuba  land  and  labor  are  cheap,  while  in  Hawaii 
both  are  dear.  There  should  be  a  statue  of  King 
Kalakaua  erected  on  every  Hawaiian  sugar  plan- 
tation, for  it  was  he  who  by  his  reciprocity  treaty 
with  the  United  States  secured  such  advantages 
for  their  sugar  in  our  country  as  put  that  trade 
on  a  firm  basis.  Likewise  his  statue  should  be 
erected  by  us  at  Pearl  Harbor,  for  that  naval 
station  was  the  price  he  paid  for  that  treaty's 
trade  advantages.  Land  unsuited  for  pineapple 
or  sugar  cane  is  being  wisely  developed  for  sisal, 
tobacco,  coffee  and  bananas.  The  1919  totals  for 
the  island's  exports  reduced  by  the  amount  they 


334- 


18         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

paid  for  their  imports  left  them  the  tidy  profit 
balance  of  forty-seven  million  dollars.  A  com- 
parison of  their  1919  with  the  1910  bank  deposits 
gives  illuminating  testimony  concerning  their  ad- 
vancing prosperity,  for  it  shows  an  increase  from 
thirteen  to  thirty-five  millions,  included  in  which 
totals  are  the  savings  bank  deposits  of  four  and 
a  quarter  millions  in  1910  against  ten  and  a  half 
millions  in  1919.  Of  course,  their  trade  is  prin- 
cipally with  our  mainland  ports, — over  four- 
fifths  of  imports  and  94  per  cent  of  exports.  The 
Hawaiian  islands  have  proved  a  profitable  invest- 
ment for  our  Government,  which,  spending  upon 
them  but  five  millions  since  annexation,  has  re- 
ceived in  customs  and  internal  revenue  four  times 
as  much.  They  certainly  deserve  more  generous 
treatment  in  the  matter  of  public  buildings  and 
similar  improvements. 

The  Hawaiians  themselves,  living  in  the  midst 
of  this  luxury  of  nature,  are  a  people  of  simple 
tastes.  They  like  fish  and  poi  as  a  diet.  Poi  is 
made  of  flour  from  the  root  of  the  taro  plant. 
It  resembles  a  breakfast  cereal,  and  is  allowed  to 
become  slightly  sour,  but  its  consistency  is  most 
important.  If  it  can  be  eaten  with  one  finger 
it  is  too  thick;  if  three  fingers  are  needed  it  is  too 
thin;  "two  finger  poi"  is  just  right!  Nowadays 
it  is  served  in  a  cup,  and  eaten  with  a  fork.  It 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS         19 

struck  me  that  the  preferences  of  the  Hawaiians 
were  along  the  lines  of  poi,  papaya,  pineapple 
and  politics ;  I  grew  to  like  them  all. 

Speaking  of  fish  recalls  another  of  the  color 
treats  of  these  Isles  of  the  Blest.  Never,  even  in 
the  imagination  of  the  most  advanced  Futurist, 
were  fish  so  gorgeously,  so  daringly  colored  and 
marked,  and  they  are  charmingly  shown  in  the 
Waikiki  Aquarium.  The  names  of  these  fish  are 
as  picturesque  as  their  coloring,  but  some  of  them 
are  unwieldy,  to  say  the  least.  Fancy  a  fish  start- 
ing out  in  life  handicapped  with  the  family  name 
of  Humuhumunukunukuapua !  The  natives 
have  a  legend  that  to  punish  a  certain  wicked 
god  he  was  imprisoned  under  Diamond  Head, 
that  crouching  fortress  whose  volcanic  sides 
change  hourly  in  color,  and  forced  to  paint  the 
fish.  If  that  be  true  he  must  have  kept  himself 
constantly  intoxicated  in  order  to  have  conceived 
the  drunken  dreams  of  color  he  portrays  upon  his 
fishy  prey. 

Nor  are  the  sunsets  like  those  seen  anywhere 
else,  for  here  they  are  generally  of  a  delicious 
apricot  shade,  beautified  by  trade  wind  clouds, 
which  during  the  day  withdraw  to  the  mountain 
tops,  there  to  form  gracefully  rolling  tablecloth 
effects,  or  to  paint  over  the  hillsides  even  finer 
cloud  shadows  than  those  of  England. 


20         AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS 

Of  course,  music  flourishes  in  such  surround- 
ings. Who  has  not  heard  the  ukulele,  that  popu- 
lar pygmy  of  guitars! 

The  only  startlingly  beautiful  sight  on  the 
island  of  Oahu,  where  Honolulu  and  Pearl  Har- 
bor are  situated,  is  the  sudden  view  from  the 
Pali,  and  it  is  to  other  islands  of  the  group 
one  must  go  for  such  sights  as  the  Grand  Canyon 
on  Kauai,  the  world's  greatest  active  volcano  on 
Hawaii,  its  largest  extinct  volcano  and  the  sur- 
prising fern  forests  on  Maui.  On  the  ''Big 
Island"  (as  Hawaii  is  familiarly  called)  the 
Kona  district  boasts  a  private  climate  all  its  own, 
thanks  to  which  its  coffee  crop  sold  in  1919  for 
$1,105,910.  This  district  is  cut  off  from  the 
trade  winds  by  the  lofty  summits  of  Mauna 
Loa  (13,675  feet  high),  Mauna  Kea  (13,825) 
and  Hualalai  (8,269).  Deprived  of  that  offset 
to  the  natural  heat  of  the  tropics,  Kona  would 
seem  doomed  to  discomfort,  but  not  at  all !  It  is 
rescued  by  one  of  the  many  wonders  of  this  won- 
derful archipelago.  Because  the  earth  in  this 
district,  so  exposed  to  unmitigated  tropical  heat, 
has  a  higher  temperature  than  the  ocean,  sea 
breezes  are  caused  which  sweep  across  it  and  up 
its  sheltering  mountain  slopes  in  order  to  estab- 
lish an  equilibrium  constantly  disturbed  by  the 
land's  heat.  There  results  an  agreeable  climate, 


AT    THE    PACIFIC    CROSSROADS          21 

quite  private  to  Kona,  which  makes  May  to 
August  there  the  wettest  months  and  December 
to  February  the  driest,  although  for  all  the  neigh- 
boring islands  December  has  the  most  rain  and 
June  the  least. 

A  frequent  service  of  inter-island  boats  makes 
easy  a  visit  to  these  and  many  other  amazing 
sights,  but  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  a  long 
stay  are  to  be  had  on  Oahu,  in  or  near  Honolulu, 
the  capital,  whose  population  both  permanent 
and  transient  is  constantly  growing. 

When  one  has  experienced  the  welcome  that 
nestles  in  the  Hawaiian  word  "Aloha,"  he  falls 
a  helpless  victim  to  the  charm  of  America's  mid- 
Pacific  paradise.  What  Hawaii  means  as  the 
crossroads  of  the  Pacific  is  known  best  to  its  own 
people,  and  it  is  now  usefully  expressing  itself 
in  their  Pan-Pacific  Union,  to  which  all  the  other 
peoples  around  that  great  ocean  are  adhering. 
It  promises  to  do  as  much  for  the  increase  of 
mutual  understanding  among  them,  with  Hawaii 
for  its  "telephone  central,"  as  the  Pan-American 
Union  is  doing  for  the  republics  of  the  western 
hemisphere.  Go  and  sit  down  for  a  season  at  this 
crossroads,  and  you  will  hang  about  the  walls 
of  your  memory  such  a  series  of  pictures  as  will 
long  after  brighten  your  thought  and  refresh 
your  spirit  in  times  of  need  under  less  favoring 
skies. 


CHAPTER  II 

SOME    MENTAL   GEOGRAPHY 

IN  our  Foreword  we  pointed  out  that  the 
United  States  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  on  the  east  by  our  opportunity 
to  serve  stricken  Europe,  on  the  north  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  racial  tie,  and  on  the  west  by  the 
Japanese  problem.  You  will  say  that  this  is  men- 
tal, not  physical  geography, — well,  and  why  not  ? 
He  who  does  not  realize  that  the  physical  is 
always  under  the  control  of  the  mental,  will  never 
understand  the  Far  East.  If  we  want  to  get  at 
the  spirit  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  problem  we  must 
study  its  psychological  factors.  This  means  that 
we  must  reach  beyond  physical  out  into  mental 
geography. 

The  most  outstanding  feature  of  life  around 
the  Pacific  is  the  natural  beauty  of  the  back- 
ground, there  constantly  meeting  the  eye.  It 
is  most  fitting  that  Captain  Cook's  errand  when 
first  he  explored  many  of  those  delightful  shores 
was  primarily  to  observe  a  transit  of  Venus. 
Venus,  the  queen  of  beauty,  she  who  was  fabled 

22 


SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY  23 

to  nave  been  born  of  ocean-spray,  never  more 
aptly  justified  her  goddess  traditions  than  in  thus 
luring  the  white  man  out  across  those  charming 
seas  to  even  more  charming  lands.  If  we  can  but 
learn  the  lesson  of  beauty  and  harmony  which 
these  lovely  lands  have  ages  long  mutely  striven 
to  teach,  then  America's  western  boundary,  the 
Future  of  the  Pacific,  will  never  suffer  the  curse 
that  the  militarism  of  Prussia  brought  upon 
Europe. 

It  is  the  spirit  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  problem 
that  we  are  chiefly  seeking  to  explore,  for,  once 
understood,  it  will  prove  the  key  to  open  that 
long  corridor  of  shut  doors  between  ourselves  and 
a  better  understanding  of  the  Orient.  But  pre- 
paratory to  that  exploration  it  will  be  useful  to 
readjust  some  common  misapprehensions  con- 
cerning the  geography  of  that  vast  region  be- 
cause the  geographical  environment  of  a  people 
gives  important  indications  as  to  its  probable 
line  of  development.  A  change  in  a  country's 
climate  will  sooner  or  later  change  its  people.  It 
does  not  follow  that  favorable  geographical  en- 
vironment will  promptly  change  a  race  intro- 
duced therein,  but  a  combination  of  a  fine  race 
plus  a  fine  place  inevitably  produces  national  im- 
portance. Of  course,  we  know  that  even  during 
the  historical  era,  the  climate  conditions  of  certain 


24  SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY 

regions  have  materially  altered.  The  Egyptians, 
the  Babylonians  and  the  Ninevites,  during  the 
days  of  their  surpassing  greatness,  lived  in  lands 
whose  climate  was  far  more  favorable  than  it  is 
to-day.  This  has  been  thoroughly  studied  by 
Ellsworth  Huntington  in  his  "Civilization  and 
Climate,"  which  contains  interesting  conclusions 
upon  the  climate  enjoyed  by  those  early  world 
leaders,  deduced  from  the  thickness  of  the  rings 
on  the  huge  mariposa  tree  butts  of  California, 
checked  by  comparison  with  the  saline  deposits 
along  the  banks  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and  certain 
lakes.  The  logical  outcome  of  his  novel  investi- 
gations is  that  the  portions  of  the  globe  at  present 
best  suited  for  racial  development  are  ( 1 )  west- 
ern Europe;  (2)  the  northerly  portion  of  eastern 
and  central  United  States;  (3)  a  strip  along  the 
California  coast  beginning  north  of  San  Fran- 
cisco and  running  south;  (4)  Japan;  (5)  New 
Zealand,  Tasmania  and  the  southerly  seaboard 
of  Australia. 

The  Pacific  Ocean  problem  is  bound  up  in  a 
consideration  of  numbers  3,  4  and  5,  and  here 

• 

we  have  the  necessary  combination  of  a  fine  race 
plus  a  favoring  place.  Of  these  three  the  Japa- 
nese alone  represent  long  residence,  while  the 
Californians,  Australians  and  New  Zealanders 
owe  their  present  favoring  geographical  location 


SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY  25 

to  racial  enterprise,  representing  as  they  do  the 
pioneering  initiative  of  a  progressive,  home-leav- 
ing portion  of  an  already  strongly  developed 
race.  From  this  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  Pacific's 
future  is  going  to  be  in  the  hands  of  no  weak- 
lings, and  that  outsiders,  from  now  on,  will  have 
small  chance  of  successful  intrusion.  Foreigners 
may  overrun  and  divide  up  the  mainland  of  Asia, 
but  no  such  fate  is  in  store  for  the  Japanese,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  in  Australasia,  nor  their  cousins 
across  the  way  along  the  North  American  sea- 
coast.  These  strong  peoples  are  sure  to  dominate 
their  own  ocean,  but  whichever  of  them  attempts 
to  follow  the  world-supremacy  delusion  of  mili- 
taristic Germany  will  run  up  against  the  counter- 
checks provided  by  these  doughty  neighbors. 
This  fact  seems  so  clear,  and  so  sure  of  recogni- 
tion by  the  strongly  developed  common  sense  of 
all  those  powerful  nations  as  to  insure  future 
peace  between  them. 

Geographical  environment  undoubtedly  influ- 
ences peoples  for  good  or  ill.  Their  mental  as 
well  as  physical  development  is  affected  by  their 
geography.  The  history  of  Great  Britain  and 
Japan  shows  how  useful  is  the  greater  freedom 
for  development  enjoyed  by  an  island  race  over 
dwellers  on  the  mainland.  The  English  Channel 
has  many  a  time  proved  how  much  safer  is  a 


26 

water  boundary  than  such  a  line  on  the  map  as 
that  which  separated  Belgium  and  Germany,  no 
matter  how  much  the  latter  be  buttressed  by  in- 
ternational agreements  sometimes  styled  "scraps 
of  paper."  Although  we  Americans  have  spread 
across  a  continent,  we  have  always  enjoyed  the 
same  water-defended  exclusiveness  as  islanders, 
and  have  therefore  been  allowed  time  to  cut  our 
teeth  and  go  through  the  national  diseases  of 
childhood  before  being  called  upon  to  take  our 
part  in  world  politics. 

Now  this  fact  of  the  advantages  blessing  an 
island  race  looms  large  in  the  study  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  problem,  for  in  its  wealth  of  islands  that 
body  of  water  differs  markedly  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  It  must  also  be  noticed  that  the  westerly 
side  of  the  Pacific  shows  a  totally  different  geo- 
graphical adjustment  from  its  easterly  side.  No 
such  difference  is  seen  between  the  two  sides  of 
the  Atlantic.  There  are  practically  no  islands 
at  all  lying  off  the  Pacific  coast  of  North,  Central 
or  South  America,  certainly  none  of  any  impor- 
tance. The  Galapagos,  off  Ecuador,  and  Juan 
Fernandez,  off  Chile,  are  mere  islets.  Cross  the 
Pacific  and  you  find  quite  a  different  state  of 
affairs,  and  one  which  has  a  highly  significant 
bearing  upon  our  problem.  There,  lying  well  off 
from  the  mainland,  runs  north  and  south  a  long 


SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY  27 

chain  of  island  fortresses.  These  are  either  in- 
habited or  controlled  by  races  distinctly  stronger 
than  those  behind  them  upon  the  continent  of 
Asia.  Unless  we  are  grievously  wrong  in  our 
conclusions  those  strong  islanders  on  the  west 
and  Anglo-Saxon  mainlanders  on  the  east  are 
going  to  grow  even  stronger,  and  the  grip  of  the 
Japanese,  the  Australians,  the  Canadians  and 
ourselves  upon  the  watery  highways  connecting 
us  will  be  tightened  and  not  loosened.  Outsiders 
will  remain  outsiders.  If  only  we  may  be  given 
the  good  sense  to  proceed  peaceably,  and  disre- 
gard militaristic  jingoes  certain  to  work  upon 
each  of  us  from  within! 

Reverting  to  the  seclusive  immunity  enjoyed 
by  islanders,  some  captious  critic  may  contend 
that  Australia  (as  large  as  the  United  States)  is 
really  a  continent  and  not  an  island,  and  that 
therefore  Australians  are  not  island  folk.  To 
this  comes  the  ready  response  that  those  five 
million  Britishers  are  as  yet  living  only  along 
their  seacoast,  having  developed  but  slightly  their 
back  country,  and  that  this  proximity  to  and 
outlook  upon  the  sea  keeps  them  as  truly  an 
island  race  as  are  their  cousins  in  the  far  off 
homeland.  Clearly  they  have  enjoyed  the  same 
lack  of  interruption  to  their  national  life  from 
without  as  the  British  and  ourselves,  and  dreaded 


28  SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY 

no  foreign  invasion  such  as  constantly  threatens 
countries  upon  the  continent  of  Europe,  or 
China,  India  and  other  Asian  lands. 

Upon  the  easterly  side  of  the  Pacific,  then,  our 
geographies  show  mainland  races  fronting  an 
ocean  undefended  by  islands.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  great  expanse  of  waters,  the  approaches 
to  a  mainland  teeming  with  Oriental  populations 
are  guarded  by  a  protective  chain  of  islands  in- 
habited to  the  north  and  south  by  stronger  races 
than  those  on  the  Asian  continent,  while  in  the 
centre,  the  originally  weaker  links  of  the  chain 
are  dominated  by  two  white  races,  the  Dutch  and, 
in  the  Philippines,  ourselves.  The  Japanese  run 
all  the  way  from  the  centre  of  Saghalien,  50° 
north  latitude,  down  to  22°  north,  where  For- 
mosa ends,  while  the  Australasian  Anglo-Saxons 
run  south  from  the  equator,  beginning  with  the 
islands  lately  taken  from  the  Germans.  The 
more  easterly  fringe  of  German  islands,  as  far 
down  as  the  equator,  seem  entrusted  to  the 
Japanese.  The  ethnological  strength  of  those 
controlling  all  these  barrier  islands  cannot  be 
disregarded  in  any  sensible  consideration  of  the 
Philippines'  future. 

We  may  remark  in  passing  that  Nature  her- 
self has  accentuated  in  an  interesting  manner  the 
marked  differences  between  the  Asian  continent 


29 

and  the  islands  lying  off  it.  She  has  drawn  a  line 
between  those  which  she  would  allot  to  Asia, 
and  those  she  considers  as  beyond.  A  study  of 
the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  long  chain  of  islands 
stretching  out  from  Java  and  Sumatra  into  the 
Pacific  reveals  that  this  natural  division  falls  be- 
tween the  islands  of  Bali  and  Lombok  and  runs 
east  of  the  Celebes  and  the  Philippines,  all  to  the 
east  being  Australasian  and  quite  as  different 
from  those  to  the  west  as  are  the  kangaroos  of 
Australia  from  any  Asian  animal.  The  Celebes 
alone  possess  flora  and  fauna  of  both  types. 

Availing  itself  of  the  geographical  exclusive- 
ness  lent  by  Nature,  the  labor  party  of  Australia, 
determined  to  avoid  competition  with  cheaper, 
imported  labor,  have  insisted  upon  a  White  Aus- 
tralia. Their  position  upon  this  question  has 
exactly  the  same  economic  basis  and  reason  as 
that  of  their  cousins  in  Canada  and  friends  in  our 
Pacific  Coast  states  in  opposing  Hindoo,  Chinese 
or  Japanese  immigration,  or  of  the  Japanese 
themselves  who  exclude  the  cheaper-living  Chi- 
nese and  Koreans.  The  policy  of  a  White  Aus- 
tralia will  retard  the  exploitation  of  her  natural 
wealth,  but,  not  only  will  it  conserve  racially  un- 
diluted Australian  manhood,  but  also,  and  for 
that  reason,  prove  a  strong  factor  in  keeping  their 
great  ocean  pacific  for  all  mankind. 


30  SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY 

An  incursion  into  mental  geography  causes  us 
to  notice  that  there  is  an  interesting  similarity 
between  the  Australian  and  New  Zealander 
island  race  of  to-day  and  the  equally  detached 
Americans  of  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  In  so 
doing  we  observe  how  rapid  modern  communica- 
tions have  modified  what  used  to  be  geographical 
remoteness,  for  Australia  is  no  further  from  Eng- 
land by  steam  than  the  American  Colonies  were 
by  sail.  We  have  changed,  for  our  own  people 
are  no  longer  the  mariners  they  were  in  the  days 
when  the  Yankee  clipper  ships  brought  fortunes 
from  the  Far  East  home  to  the  sea-viewing  an- 
cestors of  the  present  day  New  Englanders, 
whose  business  risks  nowadays  lie  inland  rather 
than  across  the  waters.  The  fact  that  the  bulk 
of  Australian  population  is  still  but  a  seaboard 
fringe  makes  their  present  stage  of  development 
similar  to  the  early  days  of  our  own  country, 
when  we  too  were  mostly  a  seaboard  people.  It 
does  not  seem  a  risky  prediction  that  before  Aus- 
tralia settles  down  to  a  really  serious  exploitation 
of  the  interior  of  her  great  continent,  she  will, 
in  response  to  the  national  instinct  of  a  seabor- 
dering  race,  complete  her  hold  upon  the  island- 
sprinkled  waters  lying  in  her  part  of  the  wrorld. 
It  will  be  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  other 
English-speaking  races  to  have  her  complete  her 


SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY  31 

dominion  over  the  inferior  peoples  of  those  parts, 
and  it  will  likewise  mean  fair  treatment  for  all 
of  them,  as  witness  the  consideration  to-day  shown 
the  Maoris  in  New  Zealand,  to  quote  but  one  of 
many  benefits  of  Anglo-Saxon  colonial  tolera- 
tion. 

Americans  must  remember  that  while  they  are 
concerned  primarily  with  matters  of  a  continen- 
tal nature,  the  live  questions  lying  across  the 
Pacific  take  on  that  aspect  which  island  races 
always  confront.  Geography  and  especially 
mental  geography  looms  large  in  all  that  half 
of  the  world. 

The  geographical  story  of  the  Pacific  must  not 
be  left  without  pointing  out  one  inconvenience 
which  it  sustains,  namely,  that  it  is  surrounded  by 
volcanoes,  not  quiet,  well-behaved  volcanoes  like 
Vesuvius,  but  obstreperous  ones.  These  petulant 
factors,  apt  to  break  out  at  any  time  without 
reasonable  notice,  and  then,  more  harmful  to 
others  than  to  themselves,  are  strangely  similar 
in  their  effects  upon  geography  to  that  of  mili- 
taristic jingoes  upon  a  nation's  policies.  Vol- 
canoes are  really  safer  because  their  outbreaks 
only  produce  local  effects.  It  will  be  well  if 
Pan-Pacific  folk  learn  to  counteract  the  effect  of 
militaristic  jingo  upheavals  or  outbreaks  as  care- 


32  SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY 

fully  as  by  their  architecture  they  do  that  of  their 
volcanoes ! 

Let  us  remind  those  who  allege  that  the  Pacific 
Ocean  is  too  vast  a  tract  to  stage  a  world  war, 
that  even  the  16-knot  ships  that  now  ply  there, 
when  compared  with  the  speed  of  the  Roman, 
Greek,  Tyrian  or  Carthaginian  galleys,  reduce 
the  size  of  the  Pacific  to  that  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  during  those  centuries  when  it  was 
the  cockpit  of  international  strife.  Japan  is  now 
putting  on  large  19-knot  steamers,  and  the  Cana- 
dian-Pacific line  will  see  that  and  raise  it. 

It  may  be  noticed  that  nothing  has  been  said  of 
South  America's  interest  in  the  Pacific,  but  this 
can  be  answered  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place, 
take  a  map  and  drop  a  line  due  south  from 
Boston;  it  will  fall  clear  of  most  of  South  Amer- 
ica, which  will  lie  east  of  the  line,  thrusting  itself 
out  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  by  so  much 
evidencing  its  geographical  backing  away  from 
the  Pacific.  Perhaps  this  is  but  a  fair  expression 
of  South  America's  preference  for  matters  Euro- 
pean, from  which  part  of  the  world  Argentina, 
its  most  progressive  nation,  is  steadily  drawing 
an  immigration  of  half  a  million  sturdy  indi- 
viduals per  year,  half  of  them  from  northern 
Spain  and  half  from  northern  Italy.  But  this 
geographical  withdrawal  of  South  America  is 


SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY  33 

not  the  only  reason  for  failure  to  accentuate  her 
relations  to  the  Pacific.  Her  two  largest,  richest 
and  most  powerful  countries,  Argentina  and 
Brazil,  face  toward  the  Atlantic  mentally  as  well 
as  geographically,  and  not  the  Pacific.  It  is  true 
that  Chile  is  also  a  strong  country,  but  it  has  only 
a  population  of  three  and  a  quarter  millions,  re- 
ceives practically  no  immigration,  has  not  in- 
creased in  population  for  the  last  20  years,  and 
shows  no  probability  of  doing  so.  The  republics 
of  Colombia,  Ecuador  and  Peru  are  not  of  a 
type  to  provide  any  active  or  aggressive  partici- 
pation in  international  adjustments;  neither 
their  race  nor  their  place  is  favorable  thereto. 
The  only  possibility  of  South  America  taking  an 
active  part  in  matters  pan-Pacific  would  be  if 
there  should  come  about  a  union  of  Argentina 
with  Chile,  to  which  combination  Uruguay, 
speaking  the  same  language,  might  usefully  ad- 
here. In  such  a  union  the  Chileans,  a  vigorous 
race  of  political  leaders,  would  probably  play  as 
prominent  a  part  as  Ohio  or  Virginia,  those 
birthplaces  of  Presidents  and  other  lesser  office- 
holders are  alleged  to  have  played  in  our  country. 
This  would  mean  that  this  joint  southerly  repub- 
lic, erected  in  the  temperate  zone  of  South 
America,  would  benefit  from  Chile's  knowledge 
of  the  Pacific  to  use  their  united  strength  in 


34  SOME    MENTAL    GEOGRAPHY 

that  direction.  Strong  races  located  in  temperate 
and  favorable  zones  may  never  safely  be  disre- 
garded in  considering  future  international  possi- 
bilities. If  and  when  this  favorable  combination 
of  the  best  of  the  south  Latin  races  takes  place 
in  a  great  grain  producing  territory,  then  the 
mental  geography  of  the  Pacific,  now  dominated 
by  the  brains  of  Anglo-Saxons  and  Japanese, 
will  be  enriched  and  broadened  by  the  participa- 
tion of  the  Latin  mind,  so  potent  in  Europe. 


CHAPTER  III 

A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

JAPAN  is  reached  by  a  long  journey  across  a 
vast  ocean,  and  that  approach  allows  time  for 
the  consideration  of  what  ocean  navigation  can 
mean  to  a  people  intelligently  disposed  to  avail 
itself  to  the  utmost  of  those  world  highways  to 
power  and  prosperity. 

Out  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  alongside  the  Asiatic 
Coast,  lie  the  British  Isles  of  the  East,  Japan. 
In  1633  and  1635,  the  Tokugawa  Shogun  then 
ruling  the  country,  fearing  the  effect  of  foreign- 
ers within,  and  of  Japanese  travel  outside  the 
home  islands,  issued  edicts  excluding  the  out- 
landers  and  killing  ocean  navigation  for  the  Japa- 
nese by  limiting  their  vessels  to  fifty  tons,  or,  in 
other  words,  to  fishing  boats.  It  was  a  drastic 
move,  but  it  gained  for  the  country  the  seclusion 
her  ruler  sought.  For  222  years  this  isolation  of 
the  Japanese  continued  uninterrupted  until  1853. 
Then  began  an  amazing  fairy  story,  the  tale  of 
a  new-born  merchant  marine.  In  that  year  two 
momentous  events  took  place,  the  invasion  of 

35 


36  A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS 

this  long  undisturbed  seclusion  by  Commodore 
Perry  and  the  American  fleet,  and  another  Toku- 
gawa  Shogun  (the  last  of  those  usurpers  of  im- 
perial power)  rescinded  the  ancient  edicts,  not 
only  reopening  the  seas  to  those  hardy  islanders 
after  two  centuries  of  banishment  therefrom,  but 
also  encouraging  purchase  of  foreign  built  ships 
suited  for  long  voyages. 

Japan,  no  longer  compelled  to  turn  her  eyes  in- 
ward, looked  abroad,  and  took  thought  how  best 
to  reach  forth  into  the  great  world  outside.  The 
problem  was  bewildering  for  a  folk  who,  for 
generation  after  generation,  had  lived  so  entirely 
apart.  Something  new  was  needed  to  enable 
these  hermits  to  reach  the  mainland,  to  reach 
other  and  more  distant  mainlands,  to  learn  once 
more  the  long  forgotten  waterways  of  her  vast 
home  ocean.  They  decided  that  this  something 
new  must  be  a  Bridge  of  Boats,  and  starting 
energetically  to  build  it,  their  modern  merchant 
marine  grew  apace.  The  most  fairylike  portion 
of  this  amazing  fairy  tale  is  the  tonnage  to-day 
reached  by  a  shipping  starting  only  66  years 
ago  with  no  training  or  traditions — absolutely 
nothing  to  build  upon.  Their  consistent  policy 
of  governmental  assistance  has  emulated  the  sa- 
gacity of  the  Tokuwaga  rescinder  of  the  ancient 
edicts  who,  not  satisfied  with  opening  the  door 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  37 

to  ocean  navigation,  at  the  same  time  encouraged 
shipbuilding  at  home  and  shipbuying  abroad. 
He  wanted  prompt  results,  and  that  desire,  ever 
since  actuating  Japanese  ship-subsidies,  has 
gained  for  her  a  fleet  that  is  the  wonder  of  the 
world.  A  friendly  foreigner  can  speak  more 
freely  on  this  subject  than  can  a  Japanese,  for 
the  latter  would  be  dismissed  for  a  braggart  be- 
fore he  had  half  finished  his  story. 

To  obtain  a  realizing  sense  of  its  surprising 
growth,  based  as  it  was  upon  no  traditions  or 
training  whatever,  compare  it  with  Japan's  suc- 
cess in  modern  warfare.  Her  defeat  of  the 
Chinese  in  1895  and  the  Russians  in  1905  is  gen- 
erally discounted  by  Occidental  critics  as  being 
but  the  natural  result  when  a  nation  long  trained 
in  arms  and  proud  of  their  fighting  men  meets 
another  nation  which  for  centuries  despised  and 
neglected  the  profession  of  arms,  and  still  an- 
other one  which  was  nationally  inefficient  and 
unprepared.  Please  notice  that  even  her  critics 
recognized  that  Japan  had  always  set  such  store 
by  military  training  that  she  entered  her  modern 
conflicts  equipped  with  fine  traditions  and  techni- 
cal preparation.  But  her  even  greater  successes 
in  the  peaceful  field  of  ocean  navigation,  from 
what  did  that  start?  Her  merchant  marine  had 
enjoyed  no  such  training  in  seamanship  as  had 


38  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

her  fighting  men  for  war,  but,  instead,  had  suf- 
fered banishment  from  the  high  seas  during  gen- 
eration after  generation  until  the  long  interdict 
of  222  years  was  concluded.  Can  the  fiction  of 
any  fairy  story  rival  this  fact  of  only  66  years' 
growth? 

This  Bridge  of  Boats  serves  a  great  national 
purpose,  one  that  affords  a  valuable  lesson  to 
such  an  ingrowing  people  as  Americans  were  be- 
fore the  war  forced  our  attention  outward.  This 
Bridge  carries  Japan's  varied  products  over  to 
more  and  more  foreign  markets,  and  brings  back 
the  wherewithal  for  the  betterment  of  those  at 
home.  Over  it  pass  outward  her  many  products, 
travelling  upon  vessels  whose  freight  payments 
(an  enormous  item)  remain  in  home  pockets. 
Back  over  it  comes  the  foreigner's  purchase 
money  for  Japanese  goods,  and  his  supplies  of 
raw  materials  needed  in  Japan,  plus  his  freight- 
money  for  their  transportation.  One  of  her  three 
greatest  shipping  companies,  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha,  paid  in  November,  1919,  a  dividend  for 
the  preceding  six  months  of  100%  on  its  stock. 
Not  only  do  the  various  earnings  just  described 
pay  back  many  times  over  the  tax  money  needed 
for  the  upbuilding  ship-subsidies,  but  also,  and 
much  more  important,  they  furnish  employment 
to  more  workers  at  home,  not  only  in  manuf  actur- 


39 

ing  goods  for  export,  but  also  for  those  who 
"go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships"  in  constantly  in- 
creasing numbers. 

So  intelligently  has  the  Japanese  system  of 
ship-subsidies  been  worked  out,  that  it,  plus  the 
enterprise  and  hardy  adventuring  so  characteris- 
tic of  that  island  race,  have  given  her  a  merchant 
marine  only  surpassed  by  that  of  England  and 
the  United  States.  The  latest  available  statistics, 
(November,  1919)  show  that  Japan  has  2,803 
steamers,  of  which  690  are  over  a  thousand  tons 
burden,  and  these  latter  large  ones  have  a  total 
gross  tonnage  of  2,154,483,  to  which  the  smaller 
ones  add  over  a  million  tons  more.  The  normal 
growth  of  Japanese  shipping,  which  amounted 
to  about  60,000  tons  annually  before  1919,  was 
given  a  sudden  impetus  by  the  withdrawal  from 
ocean  navigation  of  most  of  the  merchantmen  of 
the  Allied  Powers  during  the  war.  The  Japa- 
nese naturally  seized  upon  this  golden  opportu- 
nity, and  the  demand  for  new  ships  grew  so  great 
that  she  built  over  700,000  tons  burden  during 
the  year  1918.  Baron  Rempei  Kondo,  the  pro- 
gressive president  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha, 
points  out  that  although  hitherto  the  great  arter- 
ies of  Japanese  shipping  have  been  the  American, 
the  European  and  the  Australian  runs,  now,  to 
employ  the  numerous  new  bottoms  as  well  as  to 


40  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

meet  the  reopened  competition  with  foreigners, 
new  lines  must  be  fostered.  That  step  the  gov- 
ernment is  taking,  and,  by  subsidies,  helping 
especially  to  push  the  South  American  and  South 
African  lines  and  generally  those  trading  into 
the  South  Seas.  Not  only  does  this  greatly  ex- 
tend their  Bridge  of  Boats,  but  also  it  opens  new 
markets  to  their  factories. 

Before  the  war  the  "Shagaisen,"  or  vessels 
other  than  those  of  the  three  great  companies,  the 
Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha,  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha, 
and  the  Osaka  Shosen  Kaisha,  kept  to  the  home 
coasting  trade  or  to  nearby  China  ports,  except 
in  the  case  of  a  few  more  venturesome  tramp 
steamers.  Of  late,  however,  these  "Shagaisen" 
have  launched  out  and  trade  to  all  parts  of  the 
world,  operating  for  this  larger  purpose  a  gross 
tonnage  exceeding  a  million.  Of  course,  many 
of  these  new  lines  cannot  be  expected  to  pay 
when  first  established,  but  the  Japanese  are  meet- 
ing this  difficulty  just  as  they  have  met  previous 
ones  too  large  for  individual  enterprise — by  fi- 
nancial aid  from  the  government.  To  a  student 
of  mercantile  economics  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  they  are  as  successful  in  their  system  of  gov- 
ernmental assistance  to  privately  owned  and 
operated  enterprises,  as  they  are  not  when  they 
combine  government  ownership  with  government 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  41 

operation.  The  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek — 
the  former  enjoys  what  the  latter  lacks,  i.e.,  the 
all-important  incentive  of  individual  enterprise, 
and  freedom  from  political  appointees  or  political 
hour-and-rate  control. 

Perhaps,  in  passing,  it  will  be  permitted  to  a 
friendly  foreigner  to  take  up  the  cudgels  on 
behalf  of  Japan  in  regard  to  a  couple  of  strictures 
upon  her  methods  of  business.  There  are  two 
comments  of  a  critical  character  which  most 
travellers  make  after  investigating  Japanese 
commercial  methods.  Both  deserve  explanation, 
and  as  complementary  to  that  explanation  there 
should  be  added  another  general  comment  which 
ought  to  be  made  but  never  is.  The  first  concerns 
the  alleged  practice  of  employing  Chinese  cash- 
iers or  compradors,  and  the  second,  the  diverg- 
ence from  sample  of  goods  delivered  on  order  by 
Japanese  exporters.  The  comment  which  is  not 
made  but  should  be,  concerns  their  limited  equip- 
ment of  modern  machinery  and  commercial  appli- 
ances, including  motor  cars,  telephones,  etc., 
notwithstanding  which,  Japan  has  made  her 
remarkable  industrial  advance. 

Let  us  take  an  honest,  open-minded  look  at 
the  Chinese  comprador  custom,  so  often  used 
by  critics  as  an  admission  by  the  Japanese  that 
they  do  not  dare  trust  their  own  people  when 


42  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

it  comes  to  handling  cash.  In  the  first  place, 
very  few  of  these  Chinese  are  actually  so 
employed,  and  in  the  second  place  this  inter- 
pretation of  the  practice  is  unfair  and  incom- 
plete. The  fact  is  that  the  Japanese  are  not 
good  at  figures.  It  takes  some  time  to  realize 
this,  but  you  come  to  it  at  last.  They  have 
excellent  brains,  but  lack  precision  and  con- 
centration, so  absolutely  necessary  when  dealing 
with  figures.  Among  numerous  instances  of  this 
which  recur  to  the  memory,  take  the  following 
as  fair  examples.  The  manager  of  the  Tokyo 
office  of  a  large  steamship  company,  after  stating 
that  a  servant's  ticket  cost  two-thirds  of  the 
regular  first-class  fare,  broke  down  completely 
when  he  tried  to  figure  out  that  amount,  and 
ended  by  frankly  asking  "how  do  you  get  two- 
thirds  of  a  number?"  I  took  this  to  mean  that 
he  was  temporarily  embarrassed  by  the  absence  of 
his  abacus  or  counting  board,  so  universally  used 
for  calculation  in  the  Far  East,  but  later  the 
ticket-seller  at  the  Miyajima  railway  station, 
even  with  his  abacus,  made  such  a  mess  of  figur- 
ing four  and  a  half  fares  to  Shimonoseki  that  the 
hotel  porter  had  to  help  him  out.  A  shopman  in 
Nikko  named  a  price  on  a  certain  lot  of  antiqui- 
ties after  spending  some  minutes  over  the  prob- 
lem with  his  abacus,  only  to  be  corrected  in  his 


A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS  43 

addition  later  by  his  employer,  who  thereby  ma- 
terially reduced  the  price.  Try  to  draw  money 
on  a  letter  of  credit  at  any  Japanese  bank  and 
see  what  happens,  and  how  long  it  takes  you 
to  get  the  funds.  An  American,  invited  to  ac- 
cept (which  he  later  did)  the  presidency  of  a 
fifty  million  yen  ($25,000,000)  corporation  with 
half  Japanese  and  half  American  capital,  told  me 
in  Tokyo  that  one  of  his  conditions  had  been  that 
American  bookkeeping  methods  and  bookkeepers 
be  employed,  because  the  Japanese  were  so  poor 
at  figures,  and  not  because  he  doubted  their 
integrity.  An  American  teacher,  after  eight 
years'  experience  in  teaching  Japanese  youth, 
reports  that  although  they  showed  a  surprising 
ability  to  memorize  dates  or  statistics  of  any  sort, 
they  were  strangely  unable  to  unravel  the  ordi- 
nary mathematical  problems  easily  handled  by 
the  average  American  of  similar  age.  The  mat- 
ter of  Japanese  honesty  is  in  nowise  involved  in 
the  Chinese  comprador  practice,  for  all  who  have 
travelled  in  Europe  will  be  agreeably  surprised 
by  the  honesty  of  Japanese  servants  and  hotel 
people.  After  four  months  there  and  never  once 
locking  our  hotel  rooms,  we  not  only  lost  nothing, 
but  were  twice  bothered  by  having  articles  not 
our  own  put  into  our  luggage.  Indeed,  no- 
where will  the  traveller  experience  such  honesty 


44  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

and  desire  to  please  from  all  with  whom  he 
comes  in  contact  as  in  Japan. 

The  Chinaman,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to 
come  naturally  by  his  skill  at  figures.  Some  of 
them  are  almost  uncanny  in  the  rapidity  with 
which  they  will  work  out  the  most  intricate  prob- 
lem of  accounts.  This  is  particularly  noticeable 
in  those  dealing  with  foreign  exchange.  The  Chi- 
nese are  as  skillful  with  figures  as  the  Japanese 
are  slow,  and  this  rather  uncomplimentary  ex- 
planation is  all  that  is  needed  to  dispel  the  Chi- 
nese comprador  bogey  of  the  anti-Japanese 
critic.  Lastly,  we  refer  this  same  critic  to  a  new 
comprador  story  which  he  will  find  in  our  chapter 
on  China. 

And  now  for  the  divergence-from-sample  crit- 
icism, which  is  unfortunately  a  "true  bill,"  and 
one  freely  criticized  by  the  Japanese  press  and 
chambers  of  commerce.  So  honest  is  the  average 
Japanese  that  it  makes  one  reluctant  to  say  of 
this  fact  "shortsighted  unscrupulousness  of  cer- 
tain exporters,"  and  then  change  the  subject  to 
one  more  pleasant.  A  frank  facing  of  the  situa- 
tion, followed  by  an  investigation  of  their  manu- 
facturing methods,  may  help  to  clear  up  some  of 
the  sources  of  these  regrettable  divergencies.  Iri 
the  first  place,  one  notes  that  Japan,  dotted 
everywhere  with  mountains,  is  a  paradise  of  water 


A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS  45 

power,  a  fact  which  American  capitalists  are 
beginning  to  recognize,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
recent  embarkation  of  $10,000,000  by  one  Ameri- 
can corporation  in  Japanese  water-power  plants, 
on  a  fifty-fifty  basis  with  the  local  people. 
The  value  of  this  cheap  form  of  power  has  long 
been  understood  in  those  islands,  where,  for  gen- 
erations before  its  larger  possibilities  were 
grasped,  it  had  been  used  in  many  small  ways. 
For  example,  junks  with  water-wheels  attached 
are  anchored  in  the  streams  whose  current,  oper- 
ating the  wheels,  provides  cheap  power  to  grind 
rice  from  the  neighboring  fields.  Even  the  poor 
man's  house  has  electric  light,  for  a  ten-candle- 
power  light  costs  but  four  cents  per  night.  In 
many  villages  the  people  enjoy  free  electric  light- 
ing in  their  houses  because  the  streams  that  gen- 
erate the  power  are  the  common  property  of  the 
community.  Most  toyshops  sell  cheap  water- 
wheels  with  pipes  and  tiny  rice-mill  complete,  so 
that  children  early  learn  the  mechanics  of  water 
power.  One  sees  hillside  villages  through  which 
a  rivulet,  brought  in  at  the  top,  turns  a  series  of 
waterwheels  all  the  way  down  the  village  street, 
giving  power  for  a  dozen  or  more  small  indus- 
tries conducted  by  workmen  in  their  own  homes. 
A  natural  result  of  this  was  the  development  and 
spread  of  what  the  English  call  "cottage  indus- 


46  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

tries"  as  contradistinguished  from  factories,  of 
which  latter,  speaking  comparatively,  there  are 
but  few  thus  far  in  Japan.  This  "cottage  indus- 
try" system  doubtless  makes  for  better  living 
conditions  among  those  employed  therein  than  is 
possible  in  the  average  factory  community,  but 
it  has  its  commercial  drawbacks.  Articles  manu- 
factured in  the  workmen's  homes,  be  they  pot- 
tery, cutlery,  toys  or  what  not,  can  never  be  so 
exactly  alike  as  those  turned  out  from  a  factory. 
To  the  merchant  this  means  that  the  goods  he 
ordered  from  the  manufacturer  will  not  run  so 
true  to  sample  if  from  a  "cottage  industry"  source 
as  from  a  factory.  As  a  result  the  merchant  be- 
comes accustomed  to  this  divergence  from  sample 
and  grows  careless  in  the  same  regard  with  his 
customers.  Perhaps  we  have  here  at  least  a 
partial  explanation  for  the  evil  we  are  investi- 
gating. The  laxity  some  Japanese  exporters  dis- 
play in  letting  their  deliveries  differ  from  samples 
used  by  their  agents  when  soliciting  orders  is 
proving  so  hurtful  to  their  export  trade  that 
certain  of  their  leading  chambers  of  commerce 
and  newspapers  have  indulged  in  plain  speech, 
demanding  reforms.  "Get-rich-quick"  methods 
are  proving  as  fallacious  there  as  in  ours,  or  any 
other  country,  and  they  themselves  have  waked 
up  to  it,  and  are  quite  frank  on  the  subject. 


A   BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  47 

There  has  lately  been  considerable  public  dis- 
cussion in  Tokyo  and  Yokohama  concerning  the 
falling  off  which  this  unfortunate  practice  has 
caused  in  the  large  match  trade  which  Japanese 
manufacturers  captured  when  German  and  other 
European  supplies  were  cut  off  by  the  war. 
Speaking  of  matches,  it  is  both  interesting  and 
significant  that  the  Japanese  match  men  are  plan- 
ning to  combine  and  then  enlist  American  capital, 
thus  also  securing  the  latest  American  improve- 
ments in  machinery.  A  similar  action  is  being 
taken  by  some  Tokyo  toy  manufacturers.  Does 
this  not  suggest  a  useful  manner  of  pushing 
American  trade  in  the  Orient?  Buying  into  a 
successful  "going  concern"  with  established 
markets  for  its  wares,  and  then  cheapening  and 
bettering  the  product  is  surely  a  shorter  and 
more  certain  road  to  foreign  markets  than  a 
haphazard  invasion  with  illy  prepared  agents, 
as  some  American  firms  are  doing.  Japan  has 
been  placed  near  the  Asian  markets  by  the  "act 
of  God,"  but  needs  our  capital  for  their  large 
development  just  as  much  as  we  need  her  knowl- 
edge of  those  markets  and  influence  therein. 

And  now  for  one  general  observation  which 
foreign  investigators  of  Japanese  commercial 
progress  ought  to  make  but  do  not — that  of  how 
little  their  amazing  progress  has  been  aided  by 


48  A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS 

the  use  of  modern  mechanical  appliances  and 
machinery.  Modern  industrial  methods  are 
needed  there  more  than  is  suspected  by  the  aver- 
age foreigner  impressed  by  Japan's  success  in 
warfare  and  shipbuilding.  He  will  be  surprised 
to  learn  that  although  the  use  of  electric  light  is 
general  because  abundant  water-power  makes  it 
cheap,  there  are  few  telephones,  and  as  for  motor 
cars,  so  necessary  to  us  that  they  are  no  longer 
classed  as  luxuries  even  by  the  small  farmer, 
there  are  but  3600  in  Tokyo  to  a  population  of 
over  two  million,  but  250  in  Kyoto  for  over  four 
hundred  thousand  people,  and  the  same  limited 
number  for  the  three  hundred  thousand  of  such  a 
cosmopolitan,  up-to-date  seaport  as  Yokohama, 
the  greatest  in  Japan.  The  present  character 
of  the  rice-fields  precludes  the  employment  of 
agricultural  machinery,  used  so  little  there  in  any 
branch  of  agriculture,  although  the  country  is 
so  peculiarly  dependent  upon  the  product  of  its 
soil.  These  things  are  coming,  but  they  are  do- 
ing so  but  slowly,  and  they  have  a  long  way  to 
come  before  reaching  the  Occidental  level.  Their 
telephones  and  telegraphs,  all  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  government,  are  no  more  efficient  than 
this  experiment  has  proved  in  ours  or  any  other 
country.  These  comments  are  not  made  to  crit- 
icize the  Japanese  for  being  backward,  but  to 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  49 

point  out  that  she  has  thus  far  made  her  wonder- 
ful industrial  advance  without  the  valuable  as- 
sistance other  nations  are  drawing  from  motors 
plus  agricultural  and  other  machinery.  When 
she  equips  her  hard-working  and  cheap  man- 
power with  the  manifolding  arm  of  sufficient 
modern  machinery  it  is  difficult  to  predict  the 
strides  she  will  make.  And  she  is  getting  ready 
to  do  this  very  thing — make  no  mistake  about  it! 
A  consideration  of  the  Bridge  of  Boats  con- 
structed by  the  Japanese  has  particular  value  for 
Americans  for  two  reasons.  The  first  is  that  it 
proves  the  results  thus  obtainable  for  our  factory- 
invested  capital  and  even  more  for  American 
labor,  since  by  increasing  the  foreign  market  for 
the  former's  products  it  thereby  broadens  the  de- 
mand for  workmen,  and  a  rising  demand  means 
a  rising  wage.  Nothing  is  more  important  to 
the  future  of  our  great  republic  than  continued 
and  increasing  employment  for  our  labor  at  such 
a  rate  as  will  gradually  elevate  their  standard  of 
living.  It  is  a  great  blessing  that  we  all  work  in 
America,  and  therefore,  how  to  raise  the  level 
of  our  workmen  both  in  his  work  and  in  his 
home  is  the  most  vital  problem  to  which  our 
statesmen  can  turn  their  attention.  The  Japa- 
nese realize  this,  and  in  their  Bridge  of  Boats 
they  have  worked  out  a  fine  all  around  plan  for 


50  A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS 

achieving  the  desired  result  in  a  manner  benefit- 
ing a  maximum  of  their  citizenship  at  home  or 
afloat,  working  with  hands  in  the  shops  or  ships, 
or  with  brains  in  directing  them.  We  cannot  do 
better  than  to  go  and  do  likewise. 

The  second  reason  why  it  is  highly  desirable 
for  us  to  know  of  the  Bridge  of  Boats  and  of  the 
prosperity  it  brings  to  Japan  is  because  this 
knowledge  will  clear  up  much  misunderstanding 
by  our  people  of  Japan's  purposes  and  what  she 
is  going  to  do  next.  Clearly,  she  is  at  one  of 
those  great  parting  of  the  ways,  one  of  those 
Crossroads  of  Destiny  to  which  all  nations  come 
in  the  course  of  their  development.  Which  way 
is  she  heading?  To  paraphrase  a  popular  song, 
"We  don't  know  where  she's  going,  but  she's  on 
her  way."  She  certainly  is  "on  her  way,"  and 
that,  too,  with  all  sails  set.  Many  Japanese 
leaders  of  political  thought,  realizing  her  great 
strides  as  an  exporting  nation  with  unlimited 
cheap  water  and  man  power,  frown  upon  the 
military  party  urging  reliance  upon  the  army  and 
navy  alone  to  advance  her  prosperity  and  pres- 
tige. The  former  see  the  desired  goal  more 
safely  reached  through  increasing  the  nation's 
wealth,  thereby  bettering  living  conditions,  and 
thus  making  hers  a  greater  people.  And  their 
strongest  argument  is  what  her  Bridge  of  Boats 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  61 

has  done  and  will  do  for  Japan.  Nor  do  they 
wish  to  risk  the  destruction  of  that  bridge. 

The  military  folk  say  "we  need  more  territory 
for  our  overcrowded  population  increasing  at  the 
rate  of  700,000  per  year.  See  what  we  gained 
for  you  in  the  Chinese  and  the  Russian  wars; 
we  will  do  even  greater  things  if  a  freer  hand  be 
given  us."  Which  leaders  will  the  sagacious 
Japanese  follow?  Let  us  try  to  look  at  the 
problem  through  their  eyes,  which  means  that  we 
must  give  fair  consideration  to  both  the  pathways 
now  open  to  them. 

All  Occidentals  know  of  the  achievements  of 
Japanese  arms  during  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
and  of  the  territorial  gain  to  their  Empire  which 
resulted  therefrom.  Korea,  the  size  of  the  British 
Isles,  has  been  definitely  incorporated  into  the 
Empire  and  so  has  the  large  island  of  Formosa 
and  the  southerly  half  of  Sakhalien,  while  the 
leasehold  upon  Manchuria  is  an  even  more  im- 
portant and  valuable  prize.  Because  of  this 
knowledge  it  is  but  natural  that  foreigners  jump 
to  the  conclusion  that  Japan  is  not  only  ready 
for  war  at  any  moment,  but  is  actually  spoiling 
for  it.  But  would  those  Occidentals  reach  that 
conclusion  if  they  knew  as  much  about  Japan's 
recent  victories  of  peace,  and  chief  among  them 
her  Bridge  of  Boats  ?  We  venture  to  think  not ! 


52  A   BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

One  cannot  intelligently  discuss  the  problem  of 
the  Far  East  by  treating  of  Japan  on  land  alone, 
and  without  consideration  of  how  her  amazing 
commercial  successes  upon  and  across  the  high 
seas  influence  her  toward  peace;  her  merchant 
fleets  would  disappear  as  has  Germany's  should 
she  fail  in  war,  and  her  people  know  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  well  to  be  entirely  frank 
concerning  the  strength  of  her  military  party, 
which  opposes  acceptance  of  a  peaceful  evolution 
through  increasing  commercial  relations  with  the 
outside  world.  It  is  headed  by  tirelessly  active 
leaders  as  sagacious  in  peace  as  they  have  proved 
themselves  in  war.  Through  their  efforts  the 
schoolchildren,  those  masters  of  to-morrow,  are 
everywhere  given  military  drill,  even  girls  and 
boys  in  primary  schools.  Almost  every  temple 
possesses  a  striking  military  trophy  of  cannon 
taken  from  the  Russians.  Terauchi  did  this,  and 
it  was  generally  approved  except  by  a  few  old- 
fashioned  folk  who  grumbled  that  for  centuries 
the  only  warlike  trophies  permitted  in  Buddhist 
temples  had  been  imitation  and  not  real  weapons. 
The  fighting  man  has  always  enjoyed  great  pres- 
tige in  Japan,  and  it  is  only  natural  that  this  fact 
should  be  exploited  along  political  lines  by  mili- 
tary politicians.  The  acquisition  of  Formosa, 
of  Manchuria,  of  Korea  flattered  the  national 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  53 

pride,  just  as  it  would  have  done  that  of  any 
other  people,  and,  of  course,  this  strengthened 
the  prestige  of  the  military  party.  'Popularity 
of  the  right  to  wear  uniform  has  been  employed 
here  just  as  it  was  in  Germany.  Government 
employees,  and  they  are  legion,  wear  uniforms. 
Primary  school  boys  all  wear  military  caps,  while 
middle  school,  high  school  and  university  students 
have  neat  dark  blue  uniforms  with  metal  buttons, 
though  the  university  men  add  an  academic  touch 
by  having  their  military  caps  slightly  squared  at 
the  top — a  sort  of  martial  cousin  to  the  "mortar 
board"  headgear  of  Anglo-Saxon  collegians. 

Then,  too,  the  military  party  enjoys  the  sup- 
port of  the  yellow  press  (in  this  regard  Japan 
is  quite  up  to  date!),  which  is  to-day  protesting 
stoutly  against  any  reduction  in  the  force  of 
60,000  men  which  their  military  authorities  sent 
into  Siberia  when  the  British  and  ourselves,  ad- 
hering to  the  agreement,  sent  only  7,000  men 
apiece.  Furthermore,  those  same  papers  hint  at 
a  permanence  of  their  forces  there,  on  the  ground 
of  Siberia's  adjoining  Manchuria.  The  Tokyo 
newspapers  announced  that  on  November  26, 
1919,  the  Japanese  Diplomatic  Advisory  Coun- 
cil recommended  that  no  additional  forces  be  sent 
to  Siberia  as  requested  by  the  War  Department. 
Two  days  later  the  same  papers  reported  that 


54.  A    BRIDGE    OF   BOATS 

General  Tanaka,  the  War  Minister,  had  never- 
theless decided  it  was  necessary  to  send  them, 
and  the  evening  and  night  of  the  following  day, 
on  my  way  to  Shimonoseki  from  Korea,  I  wit- 
nessed the  departure  of  five  transports  loaded 
with  troops.  This  episode  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  War  Department  has  the  final  say  in  such 
matters.  % 

Another  light  upon  the  military  party's  plans 
comes  from  a  speech  made  in  October,  1919,  by 
a  leading  Australian  labor  orator.  He  urged 
that  Australia  do  not  accept  the  mandate  for  the 
German  islands  south  of  the  equator,  because 
that  carried  with  it  an  approval  of  Japan's  re- 
taining the  German  Caroline  and  Marshall 
islands  north  of  that  line.  He  argued  that  they 
were  shipping  to  those  islands  many  airplanes 
and  much  concrete,  which,  he  opined,  were  not 
for  agricultural  purposes!  The  Japanese  mili- 
tarists know  that  those  islands  lie  athwart  our 
lines  of  communication  from  Hawaii  to  the  Phil- 
ippines ;  they  know  that  at  the  end  of  the  Spanish 
war  we  offered  Spain  one  million  dollars  for  the 
Caroline  Islands  but  she  refused  it;  they  know 
that  in  Jaluit,  on  one  of  the  Marshall  Islands, 
they  have  a  strong  naval  base  1400  miles  nearer 
to  Hawaii  (and  therefore  nearer  to  California) 
than  their  navy  formerly  enjoyed,  and  they  know 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  55 

the  effect  that  these  facts  must  have  upon  Amer- 
ica's opinion  of  Japan's  policy  in  the  Pacific. 
They  know  all  this,  and — they  don't  care  what 
we  may  be  thinking  on  the  subject,  for  our 
friendship  or  commercial  cooperation  interests 
them  not  at  all !  They  do  not  feel,  as  do  outsiders, 
that  a  choice  by  any  nation  of  the  path  marked 
out  by  such  as  they,  inevitably  leads  down 
through  increasing  international  distrust  to  loss 
of  credit  (commercial  and  otherwise)  abroad, 
and  finally  to  the  end  which  Prussia  reached — a 
swamp  engulfing  for  more  than  a  generation  all 
national  ambitions,  proper  and  improper  alike. 
Just  here  it  should  be  remarked  that  although  we 
all  recognize  what  Germany  has  lost  in  men,  ma- 
terial, indemnity  requirements,  and  sapping  of 
national  vitality  by  death  of  the  physically  fittest, 
not  yet  do  either  we  or  they  realize  what  her  loss 
of  world  credit  means  and  will  mean.  Six- 
sevenths  of  the  world's  business  is  done  with 
credit,  and  only  one-seventh  with  cash.  Ger- 
many is  short  of  cash,  but  she  will  find  that  she 
is  equally  short  of  credit.  Her  army's  treatment 
of  Belgium  and  northern  France  will  prove  to 
have  been  bad  business,  in  the  strictest  sense  of 
the  word.  Germany  has  demonstrated  the  re- 
ductio  ad  absurdum  of  militaristic  policies,  just 
as  Russia  has  proved  that  the  world  can  be  made 


56  A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS 

too  free  for  democracy.  A  democracy  of  the 
present  Russian  type  is  as  dangerous  in  its 
freedom  from  restraint  as  was  the  Prussian 
army  clique.  Bolshevik  demagogues  and  Ger- 
man Junkers  come  to  the  same  in  the  end. 

Japanese  advocates  of  territorial  expansion  by 
force  of  arms  always  include  in  their  popular 
inducements  the  bait  of  an  enhanced  influence  in 
and  about  the  Pacific,  their  home  ocean.  But 
there  are  many  of  their  fellow-citizens,  influential 
men,  who,  having  seen  Germany  lose  her  Pacific 
islands  and  Alsace-Lorraine,  understand  that 
taking  does  not  always  mean  keeping.  Further- 
more, these  wise  heads  realize  that  it  is  unwise 
to  risk  losing  their  carefully  built  up  Bridge  of 
Boats,  which  can  acquire  for  them  something  far 
more  important  to  their  future  than  a  few  islands 
or  square  miles  of  alien  territory,  viz.,  increasing 
market  outlets  so  incessantly  demanded  by  the 
mounting  production  of  their  national  industries. 
These  trained  business  minds,  counselling  to- 
gether in  the  powerful  Chamber  of  Commerce 
at  Tokyo,  Yokohama  and  other  centres  regret 
that,  although  in  1905  during  their  Russian  war, 
American  sympathy  everywhere  favored  Japan, 
and  our  pockets  were  open  to  her  loans,  all  that 
is  now  changed.  Who  changed  it  if  not  the  ad- 
vancing policies  of  their  military  party  ?  Perhaps 


A   BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  5? 

an  X-ray  instrument  put  upon  the  brains  (and 
fine  brains,  too!)  at  the  centre  of  their  army  and 
navy  factions  might  reveal  some  fuller  answer 
than  outsiders  can  guess — especially  if  operated 
on  the  head  of  the  overreaching  blunderers 
who  served  the  outrageous  twenty-one  demands 
(or  more  properly,  five  groups  of  demands)  on 
China  in  January,  1915. 

Notwithstanding  the  military  party's  influence 
in  the  conduct  of  the  Japanese  Government  I  do 
not  believe  they  will  succeed  in  leading  down  the 
Prussian  pathway  a  shrewd  people  imbued  with 
long  traditions  of  frugality,  decency  and  practi1 
cal  thinking, — of  love  for  ancestors  practised  in 
loving  care  of  children, — of  industry  and  aesthetic 
tastes  nowhere  and  never  surpassed.  And  why 
do  I  thus  conclude  after  but  four  months'  study 
of  conditions  in  different  parts  of  the  Island 
Empire?  It  is  because  I  thus  learned  at  first 
hand  of  the  effects  at  home  as  well  as  on  the 
seas  and  abroad,  of  their  far-reaching  Bridge  of 
Boats.  To  risk  losing  that  bridge  to  national 
prosperity  and  progress  would  be  folly.  Over 
that  structure  of  peace  lies  their  surest  and 
quickest  path  to  increasing  power  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  a  growing  proportion 
of  those  sturdy  islanders  know  it. 

The  question,  then,  which  really  confronts  the 


58  A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS 

investigator  is,  will  or  will  not  those  among  them 
who  value  the  friendship  of  Americans  and 
what  that  friendship  means  of  capital  and  mar- 
kets, be  able  to  restrain  their  military  parti- 
sans?—  and,  secondly,  can  they  swing  their 
public  opinion  and  next  their  leaders  to  their 
new  and  broader  international  viewpoint?  We 
have  agreed  that  they  are  at  the  crossroads  of 
their  national  destiny  —  will  they  step  out  in 
the  direction  of  disregarding  others'  points  of 
view  as  in  the  short-sighted  military  dispensa- 
tion in  Korea  lately  changed,  and  the  clumsy 
handling  of  the  Shantung  opportunity,  for 
both  of  which  the  military  party  is  to  blame, 
and,  most  significant  of  all,  retain  the  Pacific 
islands  athwart  our  line  to  the  Philippines?  Or 
will  they  turn  to  the  right,  ana  by  regaining  the 
public  support  they  enjoyed  in  1905  throughout 
America,  the  world's  richest  nation,  win  on  to 
increasing  greatness  hand  in  hand  with  the  re- 
sources of  our  great  republic  instead  of  in  spite 
of  us  ?  France  had  to  make  this  same  choice  con- 
cerning England  after  her  Fashoda  incident. 
She  decided  to  check  her  military  party's  "policy 
of  pin-pricks"  as  it  was  then  called,  and  con- 
fine her  territorial  expansion  within  reasonable 
limits.  The  result  of  her  choice  in  that  crisis 
was  then  supposed  to  concern  none  but  herself 


A    BRIDGE    OF    BOATS  59 

and  England.  We  now  know  that  it  made  pos- 
sible an  Anglo-French  friendship  which  under 
the  skillful  diplomacy  of  that  very  great  English 
King,  Edward  VII,  blossomed  into  the  Anglo- 
French  Entente  which  in  1914,  '15,  and  '16  saved 
European  civilization  from  the  Huns. 

The  question  of  which  pathway  to  increasing 
greatness  the  Japanese  choose  is  not  only  of  vital 
importance  to  them,  but  also  it  deeply  concerns 
the  other  great  powers,  and  especially  ourselves 
and  Great  Britain,  with  our  important  interests 
in  and  about  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  choice  of 
route  to  a  lofty  goal  is  one  which  must  be  decided 
by  the  Japanese  people  themselves.  Those  of  us 
foreigners  who  admire  the  ancient  spirit  of  that 
land  can  only  look  on  and  hope  that  the  choice 
of  the  modern  incarnation  of  that  spirit  will  ac- 
cord with  what  we  believe  to  be  the  strength  of 
its  roots  in  the  past.  Our  belief  that  the  military 
party  will  not  succeed  in  leading  it  down  the 
Prussian  pathway  has  its  strongest  support  in 
the  Bridge  of  Boats. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

HERE  we  are,  steaming  up  the  deep  bay  on 
whose  westerly  shores  Perry  landed,  and  beyond 
his  landing  place  on  the  left  rises  Yokohama, 
and  further  still,  where  shallow  water  protects  it, 
Tokyo.  How  shall  we  see  this  charming  country 
together? — all  its  fascinating  sights — its  national 
development  so  distinctive  and  special  in  every 
detail — its  people  who  act  and  think  along  Orien- 
tal lines,  and  express  their  thoughts  in  a  fashion 
differing  more  widely  from  ours  than  at  first  one 
realizes.  So  kaleidoscopic  is  the  impression  it  all 
makes  upon  the  newly  arrived  Occidental  that 
any  attempt  to  give  a  coherently  continued  de- 
scription must  prove  futile.  Perhaps  our  best 
course  will  be  to  put  into  your  hands  some  ran- 
dom pencil  sketches  of  what  struck  us  as  novel 
and  interesting,  and  with  them  give  you  the  ad- 
vice not  to  spend  much  time  at  first  in  modernized 
Yokohama  or  Tokyo,  but  to  get  on  without  delay 
to  such  places  as  Kyoto  or  Nikko  or  Nara,  which 
are  the  Japan  you  have  come  so  far  to  see.  After 

60 


LEAVES    FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  61 

that,  a  little  later  on,  come  back  to  the  great 
capital  and  its  nearby  seaport  with  mind  and  eye 
enlightened  upon  things  Japanese  and  therefore 
more  indulgent  to  the  modern  Japan,  which, 
frankly,  is  not  especially  engaging.  After  you 
have  glanced  through  these  pencil  notes,  and 
after  we  have  seen  certain  ancient  gardens,  and 
gone  on  some  pilgrimages  together,  then  we  will 
venture  sundry  conclusions  concerning  the  na- 
tional expressions  or  policies  of  this  people  into 
whose  daily  life  we  have  been  looking. 

International  policies  are  but  external  prod- 
ucts of  the  internal  development  of  a  people,  and 
cannot  properly  be  understood  by  foreigners  un- 
willing or  unable  to  learn  of  that  internal  devel- 
opment which  reveals  itself  in  the  nation's  daily 
life.  This  is  particularly  a  land  that  one  must 
see  for  himself,  for  there  await  him  surprises 
everywhere,  and  every  day, — around  every  cor- 
ner;— no  land  contains  so  many  for  even  the 
blase  foreign  traveller  as  Japan!  Nor  does 
reading  in  advance  of  descriptive  travel  books 
prepare  one  for  them,  so  varied  are  they,  and 
beyond  the  intake  of  any  one  book-writing  mind. 
Here  follow  random  notes  upon  a  few  of  the 
surprises  that  struck  this  particular  writer. 

Newspaper  Reporters. — The  boasted  enter- 
prise of  New  York  or  Chicago  reporters,  espe- 


62  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

cially  as  exhibited  in  the  interviewing  of  helpless 
foreigners  reaching  our  Land  of  Freedom,  has 
nothing  which  Tokyo  or  Yokohama  cannot  equal 
for  those  arriving  at  the  latter.  I  was  honored 
by  intimate  inquisitorial  contact  with  gentlemen 
representing  no  less  than  seven  journals  of  those 
two  cities,  and  their  vigorous  methods  put  both 
the  Holy  Inquisition  and  a  stomach-pump  equal- 
ly to  shame.  And  their  photographers!  they 
practise  their  art  (or  assaults,  if  you  prefer  it) 
in  such  smilingly  ruthless  fashion  that  one  really 
cannot  indulge  in  the  justifiable  homicide  which 
should  be  their  lot.  When  a  friend  was  welcom- 
ing me  in  the  Imperial  Hotel  at  Tokyo,  one  of 
these  camera  bandits  actually  rested  his  weapon 
on  the  shoulder  of  the  said  friend,  exploded  a 
flashlight,  and  then  instantly  offered  his  official 
card  with  so  guileless  and  engaging  a  smile  as 
completely  to  disarm  the  victim.  The  insistence 
of  the  interviewers,  as  well  as  their  voluminous 
interrogations  have,  however,  compensation  in 
the  fact  that  they  publish  what  you  say,  instead 
of  what  you  don't,  as  has  been  known  to  happen 
upon  (shall  we  say)  rare  occasions  at  home! 

Bare  Heads. — Perhaps  the  skulls  of  the  Japa- 
nese are  thicker  than  ours,  or  else  from  babyhood 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  having  their  heads 
uncovered, — anyhow  they  seem  not  to  notice  the 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  63 

cold  of  winter  any  more  than  the  summer's  sun, 
for  they  are  naturally  a  hatless  race.  The  peaked 
straw  hats  of  the  coolies  are  not  hats  at  all, — 
they  are  little  roofs  that  rest  only  upon  the  ex- 
treme top  of  the  skull,  and  require  a  band  under 
the  chin,  or  around  each  ear,  to  keep  them  on. 
The  women  never  wear  any  hats,  for  their  coiffure 
is  too  elaborate  and  too  much  a  source  of  pride 
to  undergo  even  temporary  eclipse  under  any 
sort  of  headgear.  You  will  see  coolies  with  a 
strip  of  white  cotton  tied  about  their  heads  so 
that  they  seem  to  be  wearing  low  turbans,  but 
they  aren't — it  is  only  a  bandage  around  the 
brows  and  back  of  the  head,  leaving  the  top  of 
it  bare.  Men  and  boys  wear  their  hair  either 
closely  cropped  or  entirely  shaved  off.  Of  late 
years  the  soft  felt  hat  of  the  Occident  has  come 
in  with  European  clothes,  but  almost  never  our 
hard  derby  hat.  The  silk  hat  accompanies  the 
frock  coat  of  ceremony,  to  which  garment  they 
still  cling  notwithstanding  its  demise  elsewhere. 
Schoolboys  and  university  students  are  allowed 
to  wear  a  uniform  cap  when  in  public  which,  of 
course,  is  a  proud  privilege,  but  otherwise — bare 
heads.  We  arrived  in  Yokohama  a  rainy  day  in 
September — bare  heads  everywhere!  We  sailed 
from  Yokohama  a  bleak  morning  late  in  Decem- 
ber, with  a  cold  wind  blowing  in  from  the  sea,  but 


64 

of  all  the  Japanese  crowding  the  pier  to  say 
"Sayonara"  to  their  friends,  only  a  very  few  pos- 
sessed hats,  so  bare  heads  was  our  first  and  last 
impression  of  that  sturdy  race. 

Dress  of  a  Sturdy  Race. — Nor  are  bare  heads 
for  young  and  old  the  only  indications  of  the 
sturdiness  that  blesses  these  rugged  islanders. 
Bare  legs  and  scant  clothing,  regardless  of  rain 
or  cold,  are  everywhere  to  be  seen.  If  they  are 
not  born  tough,  it  must  toughen  them!  Japan, 
like  England,  is  a  rainy  country,  and  especially 
so  when  one  gets  up  into  the  hills.  At  Nikko  it 
rains  an  unfair  proportion  of  the  time,  and  cold 
rain  too,  but  nevertheless  the  men  and  boys  went 
about  with  bare  legs  and  light  cotton  garments, 
and  the  women's  clothes  would  have  seemed  un- 
healthily thin  were  it  not  for  the  protection  given 
by  the  broad  obi  tied  around  the  body.  So  light 
and  airy  seems  the  national  costume  that  when 
you  see  a  Japanese  man  in  European  dress  he 
looks  unduly  muffled  up!  Although  the  men 
frequently  wear  foreign  attire,  the  women  never 
do,  except  when  it  is  required,  as  for  court  ladies 
at  official  functions.  It  is  more  than  well  that 
they  thus  cling  to  their  national  costume,  whose 
long  graceful  lines  suits  their  dainty  build  ad- 
mirably, while  they  always  look  strange  in  our 
style  of  dress,  which  suits  them  not  at  all.  A 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  65 

Japanese  man  of  large  affairs  told  me  that  he 
wore  western  clothes  when  at  work,  for  they  were 
more  practical  and  better  suited  for  that  purpose 
than  his  native  clothing,  but  that  when  office 
hours  were  over,  he  changed  back  because  he  was 
vastly  more  comfortable  when  freed  from  our 
collars  and  trousers ! 

Umbrellas. — As  we  have  already  remarked,  it 
rains  a  good  deal  in  Japan  during  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  just  as  it  does  in  England,  but  no 
one  ever  accused  the  English  of  utilizing  their  bad 
weather  to  add  picturesqueness  to  their  appear- 
ance, but  the  Japanese  do!  As  soon  as  the  rain 
comes  on,  out  swarm  yellow  oiled-paper  umbrel- 
las, large  broad  ones,  useful  to  cover  the  load  on  a 
coolie's  back  as  well  as  himself,  or  the  baby  peep- 
ing over  its  mother's  shoulders.  And  always  the 
bright  color  of  the  umbrella  and  its  translucence 
lend  a  halo  to  the  bearer  that  distinctly  brightens 
the  scene.  Not  only  are  these  umbrellas  never 
so  gloomy  and  dispiriting  as  are  ours,  but  also 
they  are  never  so  monotonous  in  effect,  for 
painted  upon  them  are  effective  ideographs  giv- 
ing the  owner's  name,  or  the  hotel  where  he  is 
stopping,  or  the  business  house  with  which  he  is 
connected.  Even  the  poorest  carry  them  because 
they  are  so  cheap,  costing  only  twenty  to  thirty 
cents.  They  are  surprisingly  durable  and  imper- 


66  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

vious  to  the  rain.  Their  only  inconvenience  is 
that  they  must  be  set  out  to  dry  after  the  rain 
is  over,  but  this  practice  is  also  picturesque,  for 
the  day  after  a  rain  Japan  blooms  with  innumer- 
able yellow  umbrellas  like  great  blossoms  a-dry- 
ing  in  the  sun. 

Clogs. — As  practical  and  effective  as  their  um- 
brellas for  wet  weather  are  their  high  wooden 
clogs.  Japanese  like  and  wear  these  clogs  every- 
where outdoors,  even  in  fine  weather.  When  it 
is  rainy,  no  other  footgear  provides  so  sure  a 
guarantee  of  dry  feet.  Their  use  makes  for  a 
rather  awkward  gait  but  also  insures  those  strong 
ankles  with  which  this  people  are  blest.  Also, 
and  furthermore,  it  puts  a  certain  sound  into  a 
foreigner's  head  that  ever  after  means  for  him 
"Japan" — a  musical  click  as  the  clog  strikes  the 
ground  and  then  a  faint  scuff  between  the  clicks. 
They  call  this  sound  "koron-koron."  Generally, 
the  women  strike  the  ground  more  sharply  with 
one  clog  than  the  other,  so  that  there  is  a  distinct 
difference  in  the  sounds  produced — the  note  is 
higher  for  the  foot  striking  the  harder.  Some 
one  has  said  that  if  you  stand  above  a  city  its 
sound,  rising  up,  reaches  you  as  one  musical  note 
—A  flat  for  Naples,  for  example.  In  similar 
fashion,  the  musical  "click,  scuff,  click,  scuff"  of 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  67 

wooden  clogs  is  a  memory  one  is  sure  to  take  home 
from  Japan. 

Congress  Gaiters. — Japanese  lay  off  their 
footgear  when  they  enter  a  house,  and  in  the  old 
days,  before  the  invasion  of  things  modern,  this 
was  quite  simple,  for  the  sandal  or  the  clog 
slipped  on  or  off  quite  readily.  The  shoe  of 
western  civilization  presented  quite  a  problem  to 
the  Japanese  mind,  for  unbuttoning  or  unlacing 
meant  time  and  trouble  to  him  who  had  many 
times  a  day  to  shed  these  modern  conveniences 
( ?) .  Our  old-fashioned  "Congress  gaiter,"  with- 
out laces  or  buttons,  but  with  elastic  sides  making 
them  equally  easy  to  put  on  or  off,  has  provided 
a  solution  for  this  problem,  so  the  now  despised 
Congress  gaiter  of  the  western  world,  after  shak- 
ing off  the  dust  of  our  unappreciative  land,  has 
taken  up  its  residence  in  Japan,  where  it  would 
seem  to  have  filed  naturalization  papers. 

Bundles. — In  our  country  bundles  are  not 
only  a  nuisance, — both  one's  own  and  other  peo- 
ple's,— but  also  they  are  unsightly.  Perhaps,  if 
they  were  not  so  unsightly  they  would  not  be 
considered  such  nuisances,  and  yet  nobody  has 
ever  undertaken  such  a  needed  aesthetic  reform. 
But  in  Japan,  bundles  are  actually  picturesque! 
The  more  other  people  carry  of  them,  the  more 
do  they  thereby  brighten  the  picture,  and  even 


68  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

your  own  bundles  look  so  attractive  as  to  make 
it  positively  pleasing  to  carry  them  about.  The 
reason  is  that  the  Japanese  have  the  custom  of 
wrapping  all  bundles  in  colored  pieces  of  stuff 
called  "furoshiki,"  and  these  pieces  might  have 
been  cut  from  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors,  so 
gay  and  variegated  are  they.  The  better  the 
taste  of  the  man  or  the  woman,  the  better  selected 
and  combined  are  the  hues  of  his  or  her  handker- 
chief-like bundle-cover.  Men  carry  their  bundles 
just  as  our  men  do — in  whatever  happens  to  be 
the  easiest  way,  but  girls  always  carry  theirs 
upon  one  of  their  arms,  generally  using  the  other 
to  steady  it.  Schoolgirls  on  their  way  to  or  from 
school  carry  their  books  in  this  manner,  and  the 
gay  little  bundles  add  noticeably  to  the  charming 
effect  produced  by  a  group  of  these  merry  little 
damsels,  chatting  busily  together. 

Gold  Teeth. — The  gold  fish  which  so  abound 
in  Japan  are  charming,  but  gold  front  teeth,  now- 
adays equally  abundant,  are  far  from  attractive. 
Of  late  years  there  has  arisen  there  a  craze  for 
dentistry,  and  what  is  the  use  of  investing  money 
in  modern  dentistry  unless  you  have  something 
to  show  for  it!  This  is  one  of  the  many  cases  in 
which  it  would  be  better  to  be  an  altruist,  and 
refrain  from  seeking  such  ostentatiously  opulent 
effects,  but  alas!  the  gold  front  tooth  has  become 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  69 

so  popular  that  "what  cannot  be  cured  must  be 
endured." 

Railway  Travel. — Their  trains  are  very  com- 
fortable, but  unfortunately,  neat  as  are  the  Japa- 
nese in  their  homes,  and,  indeed,  everywhere  else, 
they  are  not  properly  train-broken.  They  litter 
up  the  floor  with  orange  peel,  paper,  cigarette 
butts,  etc., — even  in  the  first-class  cars  of  the  best 
express  trains.  Every  once  in  a  while  their  own 
newspapers  indulge  in  tirades  against  this  pecul- 
iarity, but  it  seems  to  persist  notwithstanding. 
These  untidy  habits  are  somewhat  offset  by  the 
constantly  reappearing  train-boy,  brush  in  hand, 
who  cleans  up  the  debris  cast  down  by  careless 
passengers. 

Their  railroads  are  all  narrow  gauge  which,  of 
course,  means  narrow  cars,  but  not  uncomfort- 
ably so,  for  the  seats  in  the  day  coaches,  and  the 
berths  in  the  sleeping  cars  (except  in  a  few  com- 
partments) run  lengthwise  the  car.  The  dining 
cars  are  especially  good,  European  food,  now  be- 
coming so  popular  among  the  Japanese,  being 
always  served.  It  is  varied,  well  cooked,  and 
quite  cheap,  so  the  dining  cars  enjoy  a  large  pat- 
ronage and  are  full  a  large  part  of  the  day.  The 
berths  on  the  sleeping  cars  are  as  comfortable 
as  ours.  Even  express  trains  do  not  run  very 
fast  in  Japan,  seldom  exceeding  an  average  of 


70 

twenty-five  miles  an  hour,  and  the  result  is  that 
sleeping  cars  are  used  for  distances  that  would 
be  considered  too  short  for  them  in  America.  At 
every  station  there  are  boys  selling  "bento"  or 
lunch  boxes,  very  neat  and  appetizing  in  their 
make-up,  and  these  boys  do  a  thriving  business, 
for  the  Japanese  are  good  trenchermen.  Most  of 
the  stations  have  large  open  wash-stands  with 
brass  bowls  and  faucets,  and  passengers  patronize 
these  conveniences  in  large  numbers.  The  Japa- 
nese not  only  washes  his  hands  and  face  but  also 
his  entire  head,  and  like  the  clean,  healthy  animal 
he  is,  takes  evident  pleasure  in  his  ablutions. 

Railways  as  Novelties. — Several  amusing 
stories  are  told  of  the  bewilderment  which  the 
railways,  when  first  introduced,  caused  to  the 
Japanese  peasant.  He  was  glad  to  avail  himself 
of  this  novel  convenience,  but  understood  it  not 
at  all.  He  had  always  been  accustomed  to  leave 
his  clogs  or  sandals  outside  the  door  before  enter- 
ing a  house.  To  his  unenlightened  mind  this  rail- 
way car  was  a  sort  of  a  house,  and  therefore,  be- 
fore mounting  the  car  platform,  he  would  slip  off 
his  footgear  as  usual,  and  later  be  much  surprised 
and  annoyed  not  to  find  them  waiting  for  him 
when  the  train  stopped  at  his  station! 

In  this  land  of  paper  windows,  the  glass  panes 
used  in  the  railway  cars  had  at  first  to  be  pro- 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  71 

tected  against  ignorance  byt  red  lines  painted 
across  them.  Otherwise  the  passengers,  especially 
those  travelling  third  class,  would  have  bumped 
or  cut  their  heads  through  disregard  of  the  unex- 
pected panes. 

English  Spoken. — It  is  surprising  how  much 
English  one  hears  in  Japan.  One  is  constantly 
reminded  that  ours  is  really  a  world  language, 
and  is  daily  becoming  more  so.  Every  Japanese 
schoolboy  is  required  to  study  'English  five  years, 
and  although  this  no  more  guarantees  fluency 
than  does  study  of  foreign  languages  among  us, 
still  it  shows  its  effect.  The  Japanese  youth  loves 
to  practise  his  English,  and  sometimes  it  seems  to 
the  traveller  that  the  less  he  knows,  the  better  he 
enj  oys  the  practice.  But  on  the  whole,  the  result 
is  useful  for  the  Anglo-Saxon,  because  he  can  get 
about  anywhere  in  Japan  with  no  other  language 
than  his  own  far  more  comfortably  than  in  any 
other  foreign  land.  Even  if  he  loses  his  way  in  a 
street  or  "gets  stymied"  (as  a  golfer  would  say) 
in  some  shop,  there  always  turns  up  an  amiable 
Japanese  of  recent  education,  very  pleased  to 
help  out  and  at  the  same  time  practise  his 
English. 

Sightseeing. — There  is  one  purely  Japanese 
trait  that  you  will  hardly  notice  during  your  first 
few  weeks  there,  but  thereafter  it  will  grow 


72  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

rapidly  in  wonder — their  amazing  capacity  for 
sightseeing. 

You  are  travelling  for  that  purpose  and  there- 
fore will  no  more  realize  it  at  first  than  a  man  on 
a  steamer  feels  the  wind  if  it  is  blowing  in  the 
same  direction  he  is  steaming,  but  everywhere 
you  go  there  will  be  groups  of  guide-conducted 
tourists — large  groups — and  all  much  interested 
in  the  sights  and  therefore  strikingly  different 
from  the  bored  squads  of  Americans  or  English 
one  sees  being  herded  about  the  galleries  of 
Europe.  And  even  more  surprising  than  the 
number,  interest  and  frequency  of  these  Japa- 
nese adult  tourists  are  the  classes  or  whole 
schools  of  young  people  bent  on  the  same  inquisi- 
tive and  educating  errand.  Nor  is  it  all  "cakes 
and  ale"  for  these  student  sightseers,  for  they 
must  write  down  their  impressions  on  the  spot. 
I  remember  seeing  several  dozen  boys  about  ten 
years  old  stopped  by  their  teacher  at  the  exit  of 
the  Kyoto  Zoo  because  one  of  them  had  not 
finished  writing  out  his  views  concerning  the  ani- 
mals! All  these  sightseers,  whether  school  chil- 
dren or  their  elders,  seem  always  to  be  having  a 
beautiful  time,  a  real  holiday  outing.  To  see 
them  trooping  into  a  Japanese  hotel  late  in  the 
afternoon,  all  talking  and  laughing  at  once,  with 
none  seeming  tired  or  bored,  no  signs  of  an  irk- 


LEAVES    FROM   A    NOTEBOOK  73 

some  duty  done  that  our  tourists  generally  dis- 
play, gives  one  quite  a  side  light  upon  the  national 
capacity  for  getting  pleasure  out  of  everything, 
a  trait  that  the  generally  happy  face  of  the  pass- 
erby on  a  Japanese  street  indicates.  You  can 
hardly  travel  anywhere  in  Japan  without  seeing 
whole  trainloads  of  tourists  on  their  way  not  only 
to  accessible  points  of  interest  like  Xara  or  Nikko 
or  Kyoto,  but  also  to  more  out-of-the-way  sights 
like  Amono-Hashidate  or  Miyajima.  In  a  later 
chapter  we  will  speak  of  the  frequent  pilgrimages 
(a  type  of  religious  sightseeing)  which  are  so 
prevalent  in  Japan  as  to  provide  a  striking 
parallel  for  the  wide  popularity  similar  visits  to 
holy  places  enjoyed  in  Europe  during  the  Middle 
Ages.  All  this  means  that  the  average  Japanese 
will,  if  questioned,  be  found  to  have  seen  more  of 
his  own  country  than  have  any  other  people. 
"See  Japan  first"  is  as  much  his  motto  as  ours 
is  "travel  abroad  to  complete  your  education." 
Japanese  Inns. — Japanese  hostelries  deserve 
a  better  name  than  that  which  travellers  usually 
give  them.  Just  because  of  certain  peculiarities 
of  Japanese  food,  such  as  raw  fish,  sweet  soup, 
etc.,  unpalatable  to  the  Occidental,  why  should 
there  be  forgotten  the  exquisite  neatness,  the  at- 
tention to  your  comfort,  and  the  quaint  customs 
always  there  found.  "But  I  don't  like  sleeping 


74.  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

on  the  floor"  you  say.  How  do  you  know  whether 
you  do  or  not  until  you  try  it  in  Japanese  fashion? 
The  deft  little  maids  bring  in  a  number  of  thick 
quilts  called  "futon."  These  are  placed  one  on 
top  of  the  other  until  the  necessary  softness  and 
thickness  has  been  attained.  Then  one,  folded 
up,  is  placed  under  one  end  of  the  topmost  futon 
to  elevate  it  to  the  dignity  of  a  pillow.  Over  the 
top  of  recumbent  you  is  laid  a  comforter,  thick 
or  light,  as  the  season  demands.  If  you  don't 
find  that  a  comfortable  bed,  then  you  are  a  diffi- 
cult traveller  to  please ! 

When  the  Japanese  travel  they  don't  have  to 
think  about  the  toilet  equipment  which  concerns 
you  and  me  about  to  stop  at  an  American  or 
European  hotel,  because  the  Japanese  inns  pro- 
vide each  patron  with  a  fresh  kimono  to  sleep  in, 
a  new  tooth  brush  and,  of  course,  towels  and  soap. 
Also,  you  will  always  find  ready  a  hot  bath,  for 
don't  forget  you  are  in  a  land  where  everybody 
takes  one  daily.  It  is  the  strangeness  of  Japa- 
nese food,  and  the,  for  us,  unpalatableness  of 
many  of  its  compounds,  that  clouds  the  memory 
of  life  at  their  inns.  If  you  will  only  have  the 
wit  to  learn  which  Japanese  dishes  you  like  and 
keep  to  them,  you  will  soon  learn  why  life  in 
native  inns  is  so  attractive  to  the  Japanese,  a 


LEAVES    FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  75 

people  who  travel  about  in  their  own  country 
more  than  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

Bridges. — Perhaps  it  is  because  the  Japanese 
are  such  enthusiastic  travellers  and  sightseers  that 
the  bridges  of  their  country  are  so  picturesque 
and  varied  in  form.  They  certainly,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  have  been  given  particular  con- 
sideration. Just  as  the  Golden  Milestone  in  the 
Roman  Forum  was  the  starting  point  from  which 
road  distances  all  over  the  Empire  were  meas- 
ured, so  it  is  from  a  bridge,  the  Nihon-bashi  in 
Tokyo,  that  starts  the  nation's  great  travel 
artery — the  Tokaido  road,  which  runs  from  the 
present  capital  to  the  ancient  one  of  Kyoto.  Col- 
lectors or  admirers  of  Japanese  color-prints  will 
remember  that  many  of  the  most  interesting  ones 
depict  bridges  on  the  Tokaido  and  that  no  two  of 
them  are  alike.  Almost  always  there  is  a  grace- 
ful upward  curve,  for  the  Japanese  does  not  like 
flat  bridges.  Sometimes  he  pushes  this  taste  so 
far  as  to  make  a  perfect  half -circle  of  his  arch, 
but  such  bridges  are  set  in  gardens  or  elsewhere 
to  serve  ornamental  purposes  only,  for  the  diffi- 
culty of  mounting  their  steep  sides  would  mean 
delay  to  traffic  seriously  bent  on  going  some- 
where. The  sacred  red  bridge  at  Nikko  (Miha- 
shi ) ,  shut  to  all  save  royalty,  has  its  graceful  lines, 
brilliant  color  and  wood  and  background  repeated 


76  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

in  many  another  spot  in  the  Island  Empire,  and 
so  has  that  other  famous  red  bridge  high  up  on 
the  mountain  slopes  of  Koya  San.  Frequent 
also  is  the  use  of  the  do-bashi,  or  bridge  covered 
with  an  earthen  roadway.  This  construction 
makes  easy  any  repairs  to  the  bridge  surface, 
and  is  so  attractive  withal  as  to  gain  it  space  in 
formal  gardens,  as  enhancing  a  pool's  beauty. 
The  old  Chinese  were  very  fond  of  thus  introduc- 
ing bridges  of  some  quaint  form  into  their  gar- 
dens, such  as  the  one  of  zigzag  stones  leading  to 
the  Woo-Sing-Ding  teahouse  in  Shanghai,  and 
this  fashion  found  a  hearty  welcome  in  Japan. 
Perhaps  the  most  pleasing  bridge  of  that  type  is 
the  old  one  brought  from  the  Bishamon  to  the 
Senten  Gosho  in  Tokyo  and  described  elsewhere. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  people  save  the  Venetians 
have  ever  rivalled  the  aesthetic  interest  in  bridges 
shown  throughout  Japan. 

Boats. — The  familiar  old  Moody  and  Sankey 
hymn  of  "Pull  for  the  shore,  sailor,  pull  for  the 
shore,"  would  not  suit  the  Japanese,  for  with 
them  a  boat  is  not  pulled;  it  is  pushed!  There 
the  boatman  stands  instead  of  sitting,  and  pushes 
forward  his  boat  by  means  of  sculling  over  the 
stern  with  one  long  oar.  Nor  does  this  oar  at  all 
resemble  that  with  which  our  boats  are  infre- 
quently propelled  in  similar  fashion,  for  it  is  es- 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  77 

pecially  made  for  this  purpose,  and  consists  of 
two  long  sections  joined  together  at  a  slight  angle 
about  half  way  up.  At  first  sight  it  seems  a 
clumsy  contrivance  intended  only  to  make  a  long 
oar  out  of  two  short  pieces,  but  try  it,  and  you 
will  find  that  the  slight  angle  at  the  joint  not  only 
increases  your  leverage  for  the  short  side  strokes 
required  in  this  sort  of  sculling,  but  also  it  materi- 
ally assists  the  feathering  of  the  blade. 

Sometimes  two  of  these  oars  are  used  at  the 
same  time,  in  which  case  the  second  sculler  is 
stationed  a  little  forward  of  his  mate  and  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  boat.  The  oar  is  not  oper- 
ated between  tholepins,  as  in  England,  nor  on  a 
swivel  set  in  the  boat's  side  as  in  America.  It 
has  a  short,  small,  wooden  pin  on  the  under  side 
two  or  three  inches  long,  which  fits  into  a  round 
socket  on  the  gunwale,  and  it  requires  no  little 
dexterity  to  keep  the  great  oar  from  riding  up 
in  the  air  and  unsocketing  this  pin. 

This  method  of  boat  propulsion  has  a  marked 
effect  upon  the  shape  of  the  craft,  for  it  neces- 
sitates a  sharp,  narrow,  and  long  bow.  In  other 
parts  of  the  Far  East  one  sees  this  same  sort  of 
propulsion  from  the  rear,  though  generally  aided 
by  oars  pulled  near  the  bow,  but  never  in  Japan. 

Lanterns. — After  one  has  visited  Japan  his 
memories  thereof  will  always  be  brightened  by 


78  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

the  mellow  light  of  lanterns, — tiny  ones  on  the 
jinrikishas,  larger  lanterns  lighting  the  foot- 
steps of  beclogged  pedestrians,  larger  still  before 
shops,  and  huge  lanterns  suspended  in  temples. 
Different  "cho"  (or  sections  of  a  city)  when  hold- 
ing religious  festivities,  hang  out  in  front  of  each 
house  large  lanterns  painted  with  the  cho's  ideo- 
graphs, and  for  these  a  wooden  post  is  provided, 
with  an  umbrella  or  small  roof  to  keep  rain  off 
the  light.  Sometimes  you  pass  through  a  village 
thus  illuminated  for  a  festival,  and  its  warm 
mellow  light  will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  These 
lanterns  are  more  durable  than  they  look  to  be, 
and,  because  made  of  oiled  paper,  resist  the 
weather  to  a  surprising  extent.  Policemen  al- 
ways carry  them  when  on  duty  at  night,  marked 
with  official  ideographs,  and  the  combination  of  a 
paper  lantern  with  the  formal  western  uniform 
of  its  bearer  strikes  an  Occidental  as  very  odd. 
Paper  Windows. — At  night  Japanese  houses 
seem  to  the  foreigner  rather  like  large  lanterns 
because  their  windows  (or  rather,  the  front  slid- 
ing panels  that  serve  as  windows)  are  but  close 
trellises  of  wood  over  whose  small  interstices  is 
pasted  oiled  paper.  Out  through  these  small 
panes  there  gleams  the  same  mellow  glow  as  that 
from  the  lanterns.  It  is  a  warm,  cosy  illumina- 
tion, whether  given  out  by  a  home  to  the  night 


LEAVES   FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  79 

without,  or  carried  by  the  wayfarer.  The  mem- 
ory of  it  is  most  persistent,  for  its  light  clings 
to  the  thought  as  does  the  perfume  of  roses  about 
a  picture  of  last  year's  garden. 

Houses  of  Rich  and  Poor.  —  In  no  other 
land  is  there  so  little  seeming  disparity  between 
the  house  of  the  rich  man  and  his  poor  neigh- 
bor as  in  Japan.  Perhaps  the  simplicity  taught 
by  the  Shinto  religion  has  much  to  do  with  this. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  an  obvious  and  commendable 
fact.  Of  course,  the  kakemono  painting  and  the 
artistic  objects  displayed  in  the  tokonoma  of  the 
poor  man  or  the  materials  used  for  his  house  can- 
not vie  in  beauty  or  cost  with  those  of  the  rich 
man  similarly  displayed,  but  the  simple  cleanli- 
ness and  interior  construction  of  both  are  the 
same  and  so  is  the  form — the  same  plain  walls, 
mats,  ceiling,  and  hibashi  if  it  is  cold.  The  nari- 
kin  (as  the  nouveau  riche — the  war  profiteer — 
is  called)  is  apt  to  go  in  for  European  houses, 
and  so  are  a  few  of  the  "quality"  in  Tokyo,  but 
the  vast  majority  of  those  possessing  ample 
means  still  affect  Japanese  dwellings  and  a 
splendid  simplicity  that  is  more  effective  and 
surely  more  admirable  than  the  average  house 
of  the  unenlightened  wealthy  with  us. 

Smallness  of  Women.  —  Of  course,  we  all 
know  that  the  Japanese  are  not  a  tall  race,  but 


80  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

the  men  one  sees  are  strongly  built,  and  though 
obviously  shorter  on  the  average  than  Occi- 
dentals, and  especially  than  Anglo-Saxons,  they 
do  not  seem  in  any  way  diminutive.  But  the 
women  do,  and  their  tininess  will  surprise  you 
more  than  almost  anything  else  in  that  land  of 
surprises.  Not  only  are  they  slenderly  made, 
but  also  so  short  that  not  even  their  large  head- 
dresses disguise  it. 

Babies  are  numerous  in  Japan,  and  good- 
sized,  square-headed,  chunky  babies,  too.  They 
always  go  strapped  on  their  mothers'  backs,  and 
their  size  and  wrappings  by  contrast  make  their 
slightly  stooping  parent  seem  even  tinier  than 
she  is.  Then,  too,  the  national  custom  of  squat- 
ting on  the  haunches  make  them  when  in  that 
posture  seem  mere  busts  of  women,  so  compactly 
do  they  fold  up  everything  south  of  the  long 
waistline  marked  by  the  broad  obi,  as  their  ex- 
ternal corset-belt  is  called.  Always  neat  and 
spotlessly  clean,  the  general  effect  is  that  of 
dainty  little  creatures — too  dainty  for  the  wear 
and  tear  of  everyday  life,  and  yet  no  land  can 
show  better  or  tidier  housekeepers,  or  mothers 
so  patriotic  in  their  frequent  child-bearing  than 
these  same  diminutive  dames  of  Nippon. 

Babies. — If  babies  could  guide  the  storks  that 
bring  them,  and  knew  the  facts  about  Japan, 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  81 

every  child-transporting  stork  that  flew  would 
surely  be  turned  thither  by  his  small  passenger, 
for  in  no  other  land  are  they  so  constantly  in  the 
midst  of  all  that  goes  on.  A  baby  who  travels 
about  in  a  baby-carriage  has  his  journeyings  lim- 
ited by  that  vehicle's  bulk,  but  the  Japanese  baby 
is  constantly  strapped  on  his  mother's  back  ex- 
cept when  he  rides  on  his  sister's.  In  either  case 
he  is  sure  of  entertainment,  for  when  with  mother 
he  oversees  (from  above!)  all  the  family  house- 
keeping, shopping,  gossiping,  etc.,  while  small 
sisters  never  let  baby  interfere  with  their  favorite 
sport  of  ball-playing  or  battledore  and  shuttle- 
cock. Baby  is  there  all  the  time,  with  never  a 
dull  moment!  Perhaps  this  is  why  you  never 
hear  him  cry.  In  fact,  not  only  the  babies,  but 
also  all  the  children,  seem  merry  souls,  enjoying 
themselves  always  and  everywhere.  It  is  said 
that  the  country's  population  is  increasing  at 
the  rate  of  700,000  per  year,  and  you  will  readily 
believe  it  after  you  have  been  there  a  while  and 
seen  the  crowds  of  children,  both  in  city  and 
country. 

Street  Games. — In  no  land  do  the  children 
have  a  better  time  than  in  Japan,  and  sometimes 
it  seems  that  they  play  most  of  their  games  in  the 
streets,  so  numerously  "under  foot"  are  they  in 
every  city  or  town.  Both  girls  and  boys  delight 


82  LEAVES    FROM   A   NOTEBOOK 

in  playing  ball,  not  only  with  ordinary  sized 
balls  but  also  with  balls  extraordinary — much 
larger  than  their  owners'  heads !  The  boys  most- 
ly concern  themselves  with  throwing  and  catch- 
ing as  practice  for  their  adored  baseball.  The 
girls,  on  the  other  hand,  play  a  game  in  which 
proficiency  means  ability  to  bounce  the  ball  a 
number  of  times  with  the  sole  of  the  wooden 
clog — a  difficult  performance.  While  one  girl  is 
bouncing,  the  others  liven  the  sport  by  singing 
the  score,  quite  like  the  Basque  game  of  pelota. 
The  girls  are  also  skillful  at  playing  their  be- 
loved game  of  Yarihago,  a  sort  of  battledore  and 
shuttlecock,  the  battledore  being  a  bat-shaped 
piece  of  wood  a  foot  long,  and  much  decorated  on 
one  side,  and  the  shuttlecock  is  a  black  seed  gayly 
feathered.  Singing  the  score  is  also  a  feature  of 
this  game. 

Japanese  Carp.  -  -  We  know  the  carp  as  a 
sluggish  fish,  but  not  so  in  Japan,  where  he  is 
supposed  to  represent  vigor  and  enterprise,  and 
as  such  is  a  favorite  emblem  for  boys.  When  the 
Boys'  Festival  is  held  in  May  they  parade  about 
carrying  large  paper  carp.  How  much  better 
this  is  than  to  have  meaningless  games.  For  a 
Japanese  boy,  the  paper  carp  of  his  great  holi- 
day means  something,  while  the  firecracker  be- 
loved of  our  youth  on  the  "Glorious  Fourth" 


LEAVES    FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  83 

stands  for  mere  noise.  That  great  wood  carver, 
Hidari  Jingoro,  has  left  a  life-like  monument 
to  the  energetic  carp,  for  the  right-hand  panel  of 
his  charming  gateway  at  the  Higashi  Otani,  in 
Kyoto,  shows  that  fish  springing  straight  up  a 
waterfall,  a  feat  characteristic  of  the  Japanese 
species.  In  this  carving  the  artist  rivals  the 
technique  of  his  English  prototype,  Grinling 
Gibbons,  but  has  the  advantage  of  depicting 
arrested  motion  instead  of  the  still  life  preferred 
by  the  Westerner. 

Baseball.  —  Amid  all  the  strange  surround- 
ings whose  every  detail  differs  so  markedly  from 
things  seen  at  home,  the  American  finds  one 
home-like  sight,  for  baseball  is  as  omnipresent 
in  Japan  as  it  is  in  the  United  States.  Every 
small  boy  there  goes  about  with  a  ball  and  catch- 
er's glove  just  as  does  his  ilk  with  us.  They  play 
good  ball,  too.  There  are  frequent  open  spaces 
in  their  cities  and  towns,  and  here  baseball  games 
are  constantly  in  progress.  Every  vacant  lot  is 
similarly  occupied  with  the  boys  busy  with  bat 
and  ball.  The  fine  play  of  some  of  their  teams, 
such  as  that  of  Waseda  University,  is  well  known 
among  us,  and  their  general  standard  of  baseball 
is  distinctly  good.  The  quality  of  their  pitching 
does  not  equal  ours,  but  that  does  not  come  in  one 
generation. 


84.  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

After  baseball  (their  favorite  sport)  comes 
next  in  order  of  popularity,  tennis.  Their  tennis 
is  not  so  good  as  their  baseball,  but  a  few  indi- 
viduals like  Kumagae  (ranked  third  in  the 
United  States  in  1919)  play  remarkably  well. 
Track  athletics  are  being  introduced  in  the 
schools  and  universities,  but  are  succeeding  only 
fairly  well.  Their  sprinters  are  not  yet  first  class, 
nor  are  their  competitors  in  the  field  events,  nor 
even  their  middle  distance  men,  for  4.35  is  con- 
sidered a  fast  mile.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  al- 
ways easy  to  get  out  a  large  field  of  good  men 
for  a  long-distance  race,  which  is  far  from  true 
in  America.  Neither  the  English  Rugby  game 
of  football  nor  our  own  variety  is  succeeding  in 
Japan,  but  they  are  fond  of  the  English  game 
officially  called  "Association"  and  popularly 
loved  as  "Soccer,"  and  play  it  well.  Rowing 
has  not  yet  taken  firm  hold  out  there,  except  on 
the  river  Sumida,  in  Tokyo,  where  university 
men  compete  in  wooden  racing  boats. 

The  younger  generation  like  Occidental  sport, 
and  as  they  are  receiving  hearty  support  and 
encouragement  from  their  elders  and  from,  the 
authorities,  it  will  surely  continue  to  keep  its 
place  and  do  the  work  it  everywhere  performs 
of  strengthening  the  youth  both  physically  and 
mentally. 


LEAVES    FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  85 

Dangers  From  Automobiles. — An  aged  Ky- 
oto lady  commenting  upon  the  danger  to  human 
life  caused  by  reckless  automobile  driving,  com- 
pared it  with  the  custom  in  feudal  days  of  decapi- 
tating folk  who  got  in  the  way  of  a  daimyo  upon 
the  highway.  "At  least,"  said  she,  "due*  notice 
was  then  sent  in  advance,  of  when  he  would  travel 
and  by  which  road,  so  that  if  you  came  to  harm 
for  interfering  with  him  you  had  only  yourself 
to  blame.  Perhaps  it  was  a  rather  high-handed 
proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  daimyo,  but  you 
certainly  had  proper  notice,  and  then,  too,  the 
relatives  of  the  deceased  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  it  was  a  daimyo  who  had  put  them  in 
mourning.  Nowadays  an  automobile  driven  by 
a  mere  nobody  thinks  nothing  of  running  over 
anybody,  and  with  absolutely  no  notice  at  all !" 

Chrysanthemum  Shows.  —  Nowhere  out  of 
Japan  is  so  much  heard  of  their  chrysanthemum 
shows  as  in  the  United  States,  where  that  blos- 
som is  greatly  liked,  grown  and  improved.  And 
yet,  because  we  did  not  begin  by  the  shows  at 
Tokyo,  we  were  at  first  disappointed  in  what  we 
saw.  There  is  no  denying  the  charm  of  the  Uji 
show,  near  Kyoto,  especially  the  dozen  or  more 
scenes  from  ancient  history  or  legends,  all  of 
whose  many  characters  are  made  up  of  growing 
and  blossoming  chrysanthemum  plants.  In- 


86  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

tensely  ingenious  is  the  way  in  which,  after  the 
framework  for  one  of  these  figures  is  fashioned, 
the  small  plants  are  woven  in  and  out  to  com- 
plete them.  Only  the  faces  and  hands  are  of 
papier  mache  or  some  similar  substance — all  else 
is  plants  or  blossoms.  Of  course,  only  varieties 
with  small  flowers  are  selected  for  this  purpose. 
Each  one  of  these  historical  pictures  is  rendered 
doubly  effective  by  the  elaborate  scenery  pro- 
vided for  it.  We  found  this  vastly  curious  and 
surprising,  but  the  blooms,  even  the  larger  ones 
shown  there  in  competition,  fell  below  our  antici- 
pations. Equally  disappointing  were  the  plants 
shown  in  several  shows  held  in  Kyoto  temples,  as 
well  as  those  seen  at  the  nurseries  in  Kyoto's  out- 
skirts, near  the  Myoshin-ji.  The  best  in  that  city 
were  some  we  stumbled  upon  while  attending  a 
set  of  school  games,  and,  although  the  exhibition 
was  not  widely  advertised,  it  was  very  attractive. 
The  great  show  held  at  Hibiya  Park,  Tokyo,  late 
in  November,  not  only  lives  up  to  one's  highest 
expectations  in  the  matter  of  flowers  but  also  in 
the  manner  of  their  display.  It  is  not  indoors, 
as  ours  generally  are,  but  consists  of  three  wide 
avenues  made  by  lines  of  flower  booths,  all 
alike,  but  each  reserved  for  a  separate  exhibitor. 
Across  the  further  end  of  these  rows  of  booths 
is  thrown  a  large  half  circle  of  others.  Whether 


LEAVES   FROM   A   NOTEBOOK  87 

visited  by  day  or  at  night  (when  the  flowers  are 
excellently  illumined  from  above)  the  tasteful 
display  is  equally  pleasing.  In  the  semi-circle 
of  booths,  the  1919  show  had  its  potted  "water- 
falls" of  chrysanthemums,  varieties  strange  to 
foreign  eyes,  and  comparatively  new  even  in 
Japan.  Nothing  could  be  more  graceful  than 
the  way  in  which  these  masses  of  small  blooms 
overflow  from  their  pots  and  swing  down  in  great 
bunches.  Along  the  straight  lines  of  booths  are 
the  more  usual  blossoms,  but  what  beauties! 
huge,  perfect,  many  of  them  strange  in  color  or 
stranger  still  in  exaggerations  of  plumpness  or 
stringiness.  Some  pots  showed  a  hundred  or 
more  blossoms  from  one  root  and,  more  than 
once,  upon  that  sole  root  were  grafted  stems 
bearing  flowers  of  contrasting  colors  1  There 
were  airplanes  made  of  growing  plants,  some 
from  only  two  roots  or  at  most,  three.  It  was 
not  until  the  third  or  fourth  visit  that  one  could 
begin  to  feel  that  they  really  knew  the  show,  so 
bewildering  were  the  early  impressions  of  color, 
shape  and  grace. 

Imperial  Garden  Party. — But  even  finer  than 
the  blossoms  to  be  seen  at  Hibiya  Park  were 
those  exhibited  in  the  great  park  of  the  Akasaka 
Palace,  in  which  is  held  the  Imperial  Garden 
Party.  The  booths  in  which  they  were  displayed 


88  LEAVES    FROM   A    NOTEBOOK 

were  not  all  assembled  together  as  in  Hibiya 
Park,  but  were  grouped  at  different  points 
among  the  evergreens  or  amid  brilliant  maples 
which  so  strikingly  enliven  the  foliage  of  this 
large  enclosure  in  the  autumn.  One  display  of 
blooms  upon  single  stems  of  graded  heights,  par- 
ticularly lingers  in  the  memory.  The  guests  who 
wandered  from  one  to  another  of  these  nests  of 
booths  were  obviously  of  a  higher  level  of  floral 
criticism  than  those  comprising  the  nondescript 
citizenry  at  Hibiya  Park.  They  showed  this  by 
their  more  intense  interest,  and  their  friendly 
arguments  upon  certain  blossoms'  merits.  The 
chrysanthemums  lent  a  charmingly  interesting 
background  to  that  otherwise  formal  function, 
but  one  could  not  escape  the  regret  that  repeated 
visits  to  study  and  enjoy  them  could  not  here  be 
vouchsafed  as  it  is  at  Hibiya  Park. 

Portable  Gardens.  —  An  odd  title,  isn't  it ! 
and  yet  that  is  just  what  they  are.  The  Japanese 
call  them  "hako-niwa,"  and  though  their  bases 
are  only  a  couple  of  feet  long  and  about  a  foot  in 
width,  this  affords  space  enough  for  miniature 
scenes  complete  in  every  detail.  At  the  Hibiya 
Park  chrysanthemum  show  there  was  space  re- 
served for  a  competition  of  these  diminutive 
landscapes,  and  over  seventy  were  entered  for 
the  prizes.  Not  only  were  there  mountain  scenes 


LEAVES    FROM    A   NOTEBOOK  89 

with  chalets  scattered  among  the  rocks,  and  shore 
scenes  with  junks  and  fishermen,  composed  for 
every  season  of  the  year  from  spring  to  snowy 
winter,  but  even  more  esoteric  effects  were 
attempted,  and  that,  too,  with  success.  There 
was  a  very  effective  one  showing  a  lone  traveller 
struggling  against  a  wind  that  bent  low  the 
bushes  through  which  he  was  working  his  way: 
the  traveller  was  about  an  inch  high  1  The  Japa- 
nese particularly  admire  mountainous  scenery 
depicted  thus  in  a  portable  compass,  and  stones 
suited  to  simulate  the  small  mountains  (such  as 
those  from  Ishiyama  on  Lake  Biwa)  fetch  fancy 
prices. 

Thinning  Pine  Foliage.  —  No  matter  how 
small  the  bit  of  ground  intervening  between  his 
house  and  the  street,  every  Japanese  householder 
seems  to  wish  a  pine  tree  growing  there.  They 
are  never  allowed  to  grow  tall,  for  their  branches 
are  so  cut  off  and  trained  as  to  keep  their  foliage 
down  near  the  house's  roof.  Every  autumn  these 
trees  receive  a  treatment  that  none  receive  with 
us  —  it  has  its  foliage  carefully  thinned  out 
by  expert  gardeners.  Each  small  tuft  of  pine 
needles  is  reduced  in  bulk,  and  a  tree  thus  treat- 
ed looks  like  a  plucked  chicken,  compared  with 
its  neighbor  awaiting  treatment.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  system  has  much  to  do  with  the 


90  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

healthy  foliage  of  these  household  pines,  for  it 
prevents  their  catching  too  much  snow  in  the 
winter  and  also  encourages  the  new  needles  which 
will  come  with  the  spring.  It  certainly  is  an 
odd  spectacle  to  see  one  of  these  gardeners  up 
amid  the  branches  of  a  small  pine,  intently  mani- 
curing each  tuft  of  needles  in  turn. 

New  Year  Decorations. — One  expects  to  see 
Christmas  trees  in  our  homes  during  that  festive 
season,  or  holly  wreaths  in  the  windows,  but  our 
only  outdoor  display  of  such  decorations  is  at 
the  shops  where  they  are  exposed  for  sale.  New 
Year  is  as  important  a  festival  to  the  Japanese 
as  is  Christmas  to  us,  but  he  believes  in  decorat- 
ing out  of  doors  as  well  as  within,  which  is  very 
fortunate  for  the  traveller  from  abroad.  Out- 
side of  most  dwelling  houses  and  many  shops 
and  office  buildings  as  well  is  a  bunched  decora- 
tion composed  of  bamboo  and  pine — health  and 
long  life !  Generally  this  consists  of  three  pieces 
of  bamboo  stalk,  cut  in  different  lengths,  with 
pine  branches  tied  about  them.  Most  of  these 
shrub-like  bunches  are  not  over  four  feet  in 
height,  and  some  have  a  neat  border  of  rice  straw 
about  them  at  the  ground.  All  along  the  streets 
hang  Shinto  ropes  of  clean  rice  straw,  sometimes 
with  a  fringe  of  the  same  pendent  from  them. 
These  festoons  of  rope  and  fringe  are  called 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  91 

wakazari,  and  are  believed  by  the  lower  classes 
to  keep  away  evil  spirits. 

Seasonable  Pictures.  —  Very  sensible  is  the 
Japanese  custom  of  displaying  in  the  tokonoma 
(or  art  alcove  of  their  living  rooms)  pictures  or 
objects  appropriate  to  the  season.  Thus  he  sets 
out  in  the  autumn  scenes  depicting  crows  on  per- 
simmon trees,  deer  under  red-leaved  maples,  or 
the  "seven  flowers  of  autumn";  in  the  winter, 
pine  trees  and  snow,  bamboo  and  snow,  wild 
geese  and  the  moon,  or  the  moon  viewed  through 
long  dry  grass  such  as  grows  on  the  Musashi 
plain  outside  Tokyo;  during  the  shift  from  win- 
ter to  spring  (there  a  slow,  and  not  a  sudden 
process  as  with  us),  plum  blossoms  and  snow,  or 
if  the  spring  be  really  arrived,  nightingales  with 
the  plum  blossoms,  or  cherry  trees,  etc. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  difference  between 
the  types  of  people  drawn  out  to  parks  or  ex- 
hibitions to  view  the  different  blossoms  —  those 
of  the  plum  appeal  to  the  more  refined  and  lit- 
erary sort,  while  the  cherry  blossoms  attract 
the  proletariat,  etc.  Chrysanthemum  shows  are 
mostly  frequented  by  painstaking  folk  who  by 
their  remarks  and  careful  study  of  the  plants 
exhibited  remind  one  of  the  Dutchman  enjoying 
tulips,  upon  whose  culture  he  expends  so  much 
care. 


92  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

Viewing  Paintings. — In  one  respect  Japanese 
painters  enjoy  an  advantage  over  their  Occi- 
dental colleagues — they  know  in  advance  exactly 
the  level  from  which  their  pictures  will  be  seen, 
which  the  Westerner  never  does.  Very  few  of 
the  paintings  accepted  for  one  of  our  art  exhibi- 
tions can  be  hung  "on  the  line,"  as  it  is  called, 
and  of  those  ranging  above  these  fortunate  ones, 
some  are  so  hopelessly  "skied"  as  to  lose  much  of 
their  effect.  Then,  too,  if  and  when  the  painter 
is  so  lucky  as  to  sell  his  work,  he  has  no  idea  how 
high  or  low  it  will  be  hung  in  the  home  of  its 
purchaser.  A  few  days  spent  in  such  an  art 
centre  as  Kyoto  teaches  us  that  most  Japanese 
paintings  are  executed  either  upon  fusuma  (slid- 
ing panels  constituting  the  walls  of  a  room)  or 
upon  screens,  and  because  they  will  therefore 
always  be  viewed  by  folk  seated  upon  the  floor, 
the  artist  knows  exactly  how  to  adjust  his  com- 
position and  perspective  best  to  suit  the  eye. 
The  only  other  important  type  of  paintings,  those 
on  scrolls  (or  kakemono)  are  generally  exhibited 
by  being  hung  in  the  tokonoma  or  art  alcove, 
found  at  the  end  of  every  Japanese  living  room, 
which  means  that  here  also  the  artist  knows  in 
advance  the  approximate  level  of  the  observer's 
eye. 

Sometimes,  but  infrequently,  framed  pictures 


LEAVES    FROM    A   NOTEBOOK  93 

(such  as  those  of  the  Thirty-Six  Poets,  etc.)  are 
hung  up  near  the  ceiling  with  their  lower  edge 
touching  the  frieze  line,  but  in  that  event  they  are 
always  leaned  far  out,  which,  considering  that 
Japanese  rooms  are  not  lofty,  facilitates  their 
inspection.  The  Japanese  painter,  of  whatever 
century,  has  never  realized  how  much  more  for- 
tunate he  is  than  his  Western  brother,  so  often 
distressed  by  seeing  his  picture,  meant  to  be  sus- 
pended at  the  eye-level  of  a  standing  observer, 
hung  up  close  to  the  ceiling  or  too  low  down. 

Ceremonial  Processions.  —  One  day  we  mo- 
tored over  from  Kyoto  to  visit  the  town  of  Otsu 
on  Lake  Biwa,  and  happened  upon  an  annual 
procession  which  has  been  taking  place  there  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years.  To  an  outsider  its 
purpose  seems  to  be  the  display  of  eight  or  nine 
gorgeous  structures  each  built  upon  a  massive 
two-wheeled  cart  dragged  by  long  lines  of  citi- 
zens. The  metal  mountings  of  the  wheels  and 
other  parts  were  more  ornate.  Above  each  rose 
a  square  edifice,  its  sides  resplendent  with  ancient 
embroideries  and  tapestries,  some  of  the  latter  of 
16th  century  Flemish  provenance.  Under  an 
ornate  roof  at  the  top  were  youthful  musicians, 
earnestly  occupied  in  the  wholesale  dispatch  of 
sound  waves.  These  dwellers  aloft  were  so  far 
from  the  street  as  to  be  above  the  second  story 


94  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

of  such  houses  as  possessed  one,  and  access  to 
the  cart-tops  was  possible  only  from  an  upstairs 
room.  So  pleased  were  we  by  the  color,  gayety, 
and  general  allure  of  this  parade  that  we  became 
as  addicted  to  "attending"  them  wherever  and 
whenever  possible  as  are  some  American  males 
to  attending  fires.  Every  city  has  several  such 
historical  processions  during  the  year,  some  of 
such  importance  as  to  earn  recognition  by  a 
representative  from  the  office  of  the  Imperial 
Household  in  Tokyo.  We  liked  best  those  we 
saw  in  Kyoto.  One  famous  one,  held  October 
22nd  in  every  year,  commemorates  the  annual 
procession  of  daimyos  who,  under  the  Shoguns, 
repaired  yearly  to  Kyoto  to  pay  their  respects 
to  the  Emperor.  For  this  procession  there  is 
brought  out  from  the  storehouses  a  great  wealth 
not  only  of  ancient  costume,  but"  also  travelling 
equipment,  such  as  large  lacquer  boxes  for  gar- 
ments, for  footwear,  for  food,  etc.  The  display 
of  colored  robes  and  ancient  arms  and  armor 
makes  this  ceremonial  most  helpful  in  picturing 
a  long  dead  past. 

Many  of  these  processions  are  religious  in 
character  and  in  these  there  generally  appear 
large  shrines  so  heavily  weighted  as  to  necessi- 
tate for  their  carriage  the  shoulders  of  sev- 
eral score  bearers,  who  enliven  their  task  by 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  95 

rushing  their  burden  from  side  to  side  of  the 
street  or  backward  and  forward.  If  at  night, 
this  burden  may  be  a  great  bamboo  structure 
bearing  numerous  large  lanterns.  We  saw  one 
such  parade  in  a  small  western  town  on  the  Japan 
Sea,  and  while  the  shrine  was  thus  being  hurtled 
hither  and  yon  in  the  main  street  to  the  vast  en- 
joyment of  the  bearers  but  confusion  of  the  on- 
lookers, the  head  priest  in  his  ancient  silken  robes 
was  quietly  progressing,  seated  in  state  in  a  soli- 
tary jinrikisha.  How  that  vehicle  got  to  that 
remote  and  small  village  we  never  knew,  but  its 
importance  was  evidently  receiving  due  recogni- 
tion. Every  Japanese  city  is  divided  into  cho, 
or  sections  corresponding  to  a  big  block  of  houses, 
and  in  some  parades  a  section  is  allotted  to  each 
cho,  so  that  its  residents  may  seek  to  outdo  the 
display  of  a  neighboring  cho.  In  one  Kyoto 
parade,  each  cho  carried  at  its  head  a  long  pole 
surmounted  by  a  pliable  metal  ornament  (a 
Fudu  sword)  adorned  with  bells  which  the  bear- 
ers sounded  by  a  continual  agitation  of  the  pole — 
a  feat  requiring  joint  effort  plus  much  strength. 
Puppets. — Nothing  you  have  ever  seen  any- 
where will  in  the  least  prepare  you  for  the  Pup- 
pet Shows  or  Marionettes.  They  are  not  figures 
operated  by  wires,  nor  are  they  run  on  the  Punch 
and  Judy  lines,  so  familiar  to  Occidental  child- 


96  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

hood.  Not  at  all!  You  enter  what  appears  to 
be  an  ordinary  Japanese  theatre,  which  is  already 
surprise  enough  for  the  foreigner,  for  instead  of 
chairs  or  benches  arranged  in  rows,  he  will  find 
small  square  spaces  partitioned  off  on  the  floor 
by  boards  about  a  foot  high,  each  space  accom- 
modating four  theatre-goers  squatted  upon  cush- 
ions. They  will  be  close  together  with  only  a 
little  spare  space  for  the  inevitable  teapot  and 
cups,  plus  sweetmeats  brought  in  by  attentive 
attendants  for  a  trifling  fee.  The  best  of  the 
puppet  shows  are  at  Osaka  and  Kyoto,  but  they 
travel  about  and  give  their  performances  in  other- 
cities.  Don't  miss  seeing  them  if  they  ever  come 
your  way.  When  the  curtain  rises,  you  will  ob- 
serve the  usual  scenery,  but  it  will  be  on  a  scale 
suited  to  small  personages  about  three  and  a  half 
feet  tall — the  average  height  of  these  puppets. 
And  now  they  begin  to  appear,  and,  to  your 
amazement,  each  has  its  legs,  arms,  head,  etc., 
operated  by  one  or  two  or  sometimes  three  men 
dressed  all  in  black  gowns,  black  hoods  with  eye- 
slits,  black  gloves,  etc.  These  operators  are  sup- 
posed to  be  invisible,  and,  strangely  enough,  after 
a  few  moments  you  cease  to  notice  them,  so  en- 
grossed do  you  become  in  the  life-like  activities 
of  the  brightly  dressed  figures.  Their  eyes  move, 
so  do  their  foreheads  and  mouths — they  open  and 


LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  97 

shut  fans,  and  handle  all  sorts  of  weapons  and 
utensils.  "Yes,  but  how  do  they  talk?"  say  you. 
At  one  side  of  the  stage,  upon  a  sort  of  pulpit, 
squats  a  man  before  a  reading  desk,  upon  which 
lies  the  book  of  the  play,  and  by  his  side  a  samisen 
player.  As  the  reader  proceeds  with  the  con- 
versation of  the  play,  using  different  voices  for 
the  different  characters,  the  samisen  player's 
music  represents  emotions  suiting  the  words, 
just  as  the  motif  played  by  the  orchestra  at  a 
Wagner ian  opera  explains  the  speech  upon  the 
stage  which  it  accompanies.  So  realistic  do  these 
two  men  render  the  life-like  gestures  of  the 
puppets  that  the  audience  is  moved  to  tears  or 
laughter  as  readily  as  they  would  be  by  living 
actors  at  a  regular  theatre. 

Theatre. — Prepare  yourself  with  as  high  ex- 
pectations as  possible  before  you  go  to  a  Japa- 
nese theatre,  and  expect  the  unexpected — you 
will  not  be  disappointed.  We  have  already,  at 
the  Marionettes  or  Puppet  Show,  seen  how  the 
audience  squats  on  cushions  in  square  box-like 
enclosures,  generally  accommodating  four.  So 
it  is  also  at  the  theatres,  but  downstairs,  in  what 
we  call  the  orchestra,  these  enclosures  are  sunken 
below  the  level  of  the  narrow  passageways,  upon 
which  attendants  come  and  go,  bringing  tea, 
fruit,  sweetmeats,  or  boxes  to  assist  smokers  in 


98  LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK 

getting  safely  rid  of  their  ashes,  matches,  etc. 
One  of  these  passageways  right  out  through  the 
middle  of  the  audience  is  sometimes  used  by  the 
actors,  who  will  thus  rush  off  to  battle,  etc.,  in 
most  convincing  manner.  The  scenery  is  excel- 
lent, especially  that  used  in  the  foreground,  such 
as  houses,  rocks,  trees,  bridges,  etc.  At  the  Ka- 
bukiza  Theatre  in  Tokyo  they  have  a  revolving 
stage,  so  that  when  one  scene  is  completed,  the 
lights  are  lowered,  the  stage  is  revolved,  and  the 
piece  goes  forward  with  no  delay  for  scenery  set- 
ting, because  it  has  been  set  while  the  preceding 
scene  was  being  enacted.  Women's  parts  are 
almost  always  taken  by  men,  who,  however,  simu- 
late feminine  voices.  It  is  said  that  the  theatre, 
geisha  dancing,  puppet  shows,  and  all  kindred 
entertainments  alike  had  their  beginnings  in  the 
Noh  dance,  and  certainly  attendance  at  one  of 
those  antique  survivals  adds  to  one's  understand- 
ing of  the  other  more  modern  manifestations. 

Noh  Dance. — These  so-called  dances  are  real- 
ly long  plays  telling  a  story  with  a  moral,  and  are 
therefore  rather  religious  than  terpsichorean  in 
character.  They  are  gradually  losing  their  popu- 
larity, so  much  so  that  they  are  now  generally 
given  by  subscription.  The  stage  must  always 
be  constructed  in  a  certain  manner,  square  in 
shape,  with  a  minor  access  from  one  side  through 


•LEAVES    FROM    A    NOTEBOOK  99 

a  small  door  (ordinarily  kept  shut),  but  most  of 
the  characters  come  on  and  go  off  by  means  of 
a  long  open  passageway  leading  to  the  stage  from 
the  side  opposite  the  little  door.  There  is  no  at- 
tempt at  scenery,  but  always  a  pine  tree  painted 
on  the  back  wall,  and,  of  course,  the  purple  cloth 
of  ceremony  with  its  white  ideographs  draped 
above  across  the  entire  front.  One  point  of  the 
construction  you  must  certainly  notice,  for  in 
this  respect  the  Noh  stage  differs  sharply  from 
that  of  the  ordinary  theatre — it  is  separated  from 
the  audience  by  a  narrow  interval  paved  with 
small  stones  or  pebbles.  This  interval  serves  con- 
stantly to  remind  the  audience  that  the  actors  are 
in  a  world  apart,  and  that  they  may  therefore  ex- 
pect to  witness  acts  and  episodes  quite  different 
from  those  possible  in  everyday  life.  The  cos- 
tumes are  gorgeous,  which  is  to  be  expected,  but 
most  unexpected  are  the  voices  of  the  actors  and 
their  manner  of  walking.  The  voice  used  is  an 
entirely  unnatural  one,  with  all  possible  throati- 
ness  brought  out.  In  a  word,  that  which  we  dis- 
like in  the  human  voice,  and  wish  to  suppress,  the 
Japanese  like  in  their  actors,  and  seek  to  develop 
to  its  uttermost  possibility.  The  walk  they  affect 
is  equally  unnatural,  but  very  graceful  and  pleas- 
ing. The  placing  of  each  foot  is  carefully  studied 
and  timed,  the  toes  being  thrust  forward  seem- 


100    LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK 

ingly  to  guide  the  foot  to  its  place  on  the  floor. 
This  same  gait  is  used  in  the  tea  ceremony,  and 
its  successful  use  is  much  appreciated  and  highly 
esteemed.  In  one  respect  the  Noh  dance  is  like 
the  old  Greek  plays — it  has  a  Chorus  which  con- 
stantly throughout  the  development  of  the  story 
explains  it  and  sometimes  predicts  the  action  of 
the  piece.  Unlike  the  Greek  Chorus,  these  Japa- 
nese are  seated  upon  the  stage  with  the  actors, 
as  are  also  musicians  who  from  time  to  time  are 
brought  in.  Of  all  the  numerous  dramatic  effects 
sought  and  effectively  rendered,  the  most  appre- 
ciated is  that  of  suppressed  passion  by  the  hero 
or  the  villain,  and  sometimes  it  is  thrown  out  into 
high  relief  by  the  buffoonery  of  a  low  comedian 
servant  or  retainer,  or  else  a  serious  piece  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  farce  or  comic  dance.  Perhaps  the 
average  foreigner  will  find  the  action  of  the  Noh 
dance  too  drawn  out  and  retarded.  On  one  occa- 
sion in  Kyoto  the  Chorus  sat  alone  upon  the  stage 
and  for  fifty-five  minutes  intoned  an  explanation 
of  what  the  principal  characters  had  been  doing 
and  saying!  Such  periods  can,  however,  be  in- 
terestingly employed  in  studying  the  audience. 
It  will  be  found  to  contain  about  equal  parts  of 
men  and  women.  Among  the  men  there  will  be 
many  of  advanced  age,  always  with  an  open  book 
with  which  they  carefully  follow  all  that  is  said 


LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK    101 

on  the  stage.  Nor  is  this  studious  interest  con- 
fined to  the  elderly,  for  it  is  equally  true  of  the 
young  men  and  maidens.  Altogether,  the  im- 
pression one  takes  away  from  a  Noh  dance  is 
similar  to  that  one  receives  at  an  opera  house 
when  "Parsifal"  is  being  rendered  —  the  same 
general  study  of  the  text,  interest  not  only  in  see- 
ing and  hearing,  but  also  in  the  development  of 
the  motifs  by  the  orchestra,  close  attention  by 
differing  ages  of  both  sexes,  etc. 

A  Geisha  Party.  -  -  When  Oishi  Kuranosuke, 
the  leader  of  the  Forty-Seven  Ronins,  in  order 
to  conceal  his  purpose  to  avenge  the  death  of  the 
daimyo  they  had  served,  feigned  a  dissolute  life, 
it  was  at  the  Ichi  Riki  tea-house  in  Kyoto  he 
committed  his  excesses.  After  the  Ronins  had 
achieved  their  purpose  of  slaying  their  dead 
master's  enemy,  thereby  setting  a  standard  of 
loyalty  so  greatly  admired  by  all  Japanese,  that 
tea-house  set  up  and  has  ever  since  maintained  a 
shrine  to  the  Ronin's  leader.  Mr.  Hamaguchi, 
the  versatile-minded  manager  of  the  Miyako 
Hotel,  arranged  for  us  in  this  historic  tea-house, 
a  geisha  party  for  which  he  selected  the  best  that 
the  famous  geisha  school  of  Kyoto  produced. 
There  were  four  dancing  girls,  thirteen  or  four- 
teen years  old,  and  also  several  older  girls  who 
played  the  samisen  for  the  dancing,  or  served  the 


102    LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK 

dinner  and  would  have  entertained  us  with  their 
witty  conversation  had  we  known  enough  Jap- 
anese to  understand  them.  We  were  met  at  the 
door  by  the  manageress,  who  wore  above  her  obi 
an  additional  cincture  of  red  cloth,  indicating  that 
hers  was  one  of  the  half  dozen  first  class  tea- 
houses of  the  city.  Also  were  there  as  usual 
several  servants  crouched  on  the  floor,  bowing  till 
their  heads  touched  it.  We  were  led  in  through 
several  small  intensely  neat  rooms  to  see  the 
shrine  of  the  loyal  Ronin,  and  were  finally  in- 
stalled in  one  of  the  two  rooms  reserved  for  us. 
We  sat  (more  or  less  comfortably,  and  less  grace- 
fully) upon  cushions,  each  with  an  arm  rest, 
which  was  really  a  life-saver  for  those  unaccus- 
tomed to  long  squatting  on  the  floor.  The  ad- 
joining room  served  as  a  sort  of  stage  for  the 
earlier  dances,  requiring  more  perspective  than 
the  later  ones.  Some  of  these  were  really  re- 
markable for  their  clear  portrayal  of  the  story 
which  every  dance  requires  as  a  basis.  There 
were  two  or  three  pas  seul,  one  of  them  showing 
a  lion  hunting  at  night.  Fancy  a  brilliantly  cos- 
tumed girl  of  thirteen,  with  no  implement  but  a 
fan,  imitating  a  lion! — it  sounds  futile,  doesn't 
it?  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  she  was  a  lion,  a  hun- 
gry, agile,  sleek  and  ever  dangerous  lion.  Later, 
during  lulls  in  the  elaborate  Japanese  dinner, 


LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK    103 

with  its  frequently  recurring  soups  and  innumer- 
able small  dishes,  we  witnessed  some  of  the  more 
elaborate  dances  requiring  four  in  their  execution. 
The  swirl  of  the  kimono  sleeves,  accentuated  by 
their  gay  hues  and  deft  use  of  dainty  fans  left 
such  an  impression  of  grace  and  rhythm  swung 
in  color  as  readily  to  explain  why  the  Japanese 
never  tire  of  this  form  of  entertainment. 

And  now  there  came  an  interlude  distinctly 
unusual  in  such  an  evening.  My  small  son,  aged 
eleven,  took  up  a  samisen  and  played  a  tune.  At 
once  the  geisha  party  became  a  children's  party ! 
The  little  dancers  crowded  around  him,  and  after 
applauding  his  effort,  went  on  to  engage  him 
and  his  governess  in  certain  games  known  to  all 
children,  such  as  those  played  by  throwing  out 
the  hand  with  some  fingers  extended,  etc.  A 
strange  ending  for  an  evening  begun  with  rever- 
ence to  an  ancient  act  of  vengeful  loyalty  by;  a 
fighting  man,  and  developed  by  a  modern  and 
distinctly  adult  manifestation  of  music,  dancing 
and  costume.  It  started  with  the  aboriginal  man 
and  after  passing  by  the  eternal  feminine,  ended 
with  the  perennial  child! 

Tokyo  Geisha. — The  Tokyo  style  of  geisha 
dancing  differs  noticeably  from  that  of  Kyoto, 
and  although  more  up  to  date  and  elaborate, 
yields  first  place  in  public  esteem  to  the  older 


104    LEAVES  FROM  A  NOTEBOOK 

school  of  the  ancient  Imperial  capital.  At  Tokyo 
the  musicians  are  generally  seated  at  the  back, 
behind  the  dancers.  Then,  too,  the  dancers  there 
sometimes  use  bits  of  what  our  stage  men  would 
call  "property"  to  help  in  the  telling  of  the 
dance's  story.  For  example,  two  girls  dressed  as 
fishermen  of  the  olden  times,  executed  a  charming 
representation  of  life  on  a  fishing  boat,  but  they 
were  aided  by)  a  bit  of  board  painted  to  repre- 
sent a  ship's  side,  placed  between  them  and  their 
audience.  You  would  not  see  this  in  Kyoto,  nor 
would  the  dancers  there  wear  special  costumes 
for  particular  dances.  The  amount  of  money 
spent  on  these  geisha  parties  is  so  great  as  to  re- 
mind one  of  private  entertainments  at  home  in 
which  leading  singers  from  the  Opera  House  take 
part. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOME  OLD   KYOTO  GARDENS  AND  THEIR   THOUGHT 

THE  chief  outstanding  difference  to  the  trav- 
eller between  things  Oriental  and  those  to  which 
he  has  been  accustomed  at  home  is  that  in  the  Far 
East  everything  means  something — thought  is 
behind  every  sight  or  fact,  and  one  is  supposed  to 
realize  this  and  recognize  at  least  part  of  the 
thought.  Lovers  of  Kipling  know  that  he  so  out- 
lines his  stories  as  to  leave  the  reader  much  to 
fill  in  from  one's  own  imagination  or  mental  ex- 
periences. So  it  is  with  the  Orient.  If  you  are 
not  prepared  and  equipped  to  see  behind  and 
through  its  sights  their  underlying  thought  you 
will  never  understand  the  beauty  of  the  land,  the 
mentality  of  its  people,  or  the  international  ex- 
pression of  its  purpose  as  evidenced  in  its  foreign 
policies.  Nor  will  you  know  how  our  own  policies 
should  be  shaped  so  as  to  reach  Oriental  appre- 
ciation. To  render  its  point  of  view  more  un- 
derstandable let  us  go  to  the  heart  of  old  Japan, 
which  is  Kyoto,  and  to  the  heart  of  its  heart,  those 
ancient  gardens  which  more  beautifully  than  any 

105 


106    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

other  of  its  expressions,  explain  to  the  foreign 
traveller  how  the  thought-processes  of  the  people 
have  long  been  accustomed  to  externalize  them- 
selves. This  may  sound  abstruse,  but  it  isn't — 
it  is  delightfully  and  artistically  simple.  The 
testheticism  of  every  nation  attracts  and  enlists 
many  of  its  finest  minds,  and  of  gardens  in  Japan 
this  has  long  been  true.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
imagine  a  more  pleasing  environment  than  they 
afford  for  those  seeking  to  learn  how  Japanese 
think,  and  how  their  thinking  tends  to  express 
itself  materially. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  mighty  warrior, 
Kumagaye  Naozane  by  name,  whose  prowess  in 
battle  was  known  throughout  all  Japan.  We  can 
still  see  his  huge  sword,  and  from  its  unusual  size 
realize  the  physical  strength  of  him  who  wielded 
such  a  weapon.  A  tragic  episode,  the  slaying 
of  a  boy  disguised  as  the  enemy's  champion, 
abruptly  turned  him  toward  a  life  of  religious 
seclusion.  He  made  his  way  to  the  Buddhist 
temple  of  Kurodani  in  Kyoto,  and  hanging  his 
armor  on  a  great  pine  tree  in  the  courtyard, 
passed  through  the  sanctuary,  and  coming  out 
into  the  garden  beyond,  cast  into  its  tranquil  pool 
his  widely  feared  sword.  The  thought  of  the 
Kurodani  garden  reached  out  and  laying  hold 
upon  the  war  sick  veteran  drew  him  into  its  haven 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS          107 

of  mind.  Let  us,  too,  turning  from  our  five  years' 
absorption  in  war's  horrors,  yield  to  this  same 
lure,  and  together  we  shall  see  whither  thought 
in  and  of  these  old  Kyoto  gardens  will  lead  us. 
Perhaps  they  will  show  us  how  Japanese  think. 
What  this  12th  century  hero's  plunging  his  trusty 
blade  into  Kurodani's  pool  acknowledged  of  a 
garden's  attraction  and  deeper  meaning  has  held 
true  down  through  all  Japan's  history.  More- 
over, in  other  and  differing  lands  it  finds  a  sym- 
pathetic echo,  growing  stronger  as  their  culture 
mounts  higher.  But  the  Japanese  lead  all  other 
garden-lovers  in  embodying  more  thought  in 
those  retreats  from  worldly  turmoil.  The  more 
you  put  into  a  thing,  the  more  you  get  out  of  it. 
Just  as  they  have  always  put  more  thought  into 
their  gardens  than  we  have  into  ours,  so  do  their 
gardens  superinduce  more  thinking  on  the  part 
of  the  visitor  than  do  ours.  An  English  rose 
garden  means  sight  and  smell,  but  a  Japanese 
one  spells  thought  expressed  in  a  harmony  of 
nature, — thought  that  begets  thinking,  and  that, 
too,  of  a  formal,  definite  and  practical  type.  It 
is  often  overlooked  that  there  is  a  practical  side 
to  the  mental  fertilization  of  attractive  surround- 
ings. We  are  all  agreed  that  nothing  is  of 
greater  consequence  to  man  than  thought,  and 
we  shall  see  that  to  assist  it  is  the  main  purpose 


108    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

of  the  Japanese  garden.  It  must  always  have 
its  legend  to  tell  or  historical  view  to  recall.  The 
Abbot's  garden  just  below  the  gorgeous  lyeyasu 
mausolea  on  the  cryptomeria-clad  Nikko  hill- 
side represents  the  Hak-kei  or  eight  famous  views 
of  faraway  Lake  Biwa.  The  Katsura  Palace 
garden  near  Kyoto  sets  out  in  detail  an  old  Chi- 
nese poem  known  to  all  Japanese  literati.  Unless 
one  is  equipped  with  this  mental  key  to  a  Jap- 
anese garden,  his  physical  entrance  therein  yields 
no  translation  of  its  secret  charm. 

One  more  introductory  thought, — you  must 
dismiss  flowers  from  your  expectations  during 
our  rambles  among  these  ancient  formal  gardens, 
composed  to  be  enjoyed  during  every  season  of 
the  year  alike.  The  Japanese  works  out  his  love 
for  colored  blooms  away  from  his  gardens,  out 
where  he  can  enjoy  color  in  the  mass.  He  has 
both  the  long  spring  of  England  and  an  even 
longer  autumn  than  America  (Kyoto  maples 
are  most  brilliant  in  mid-November),  while  Eng- 
land lacks  our  autumn  and  we  her  spring.  He 
begins  with  his  plum  blossoms  in  February,  then 
peach,  pear  and  cherry  trees  in  April,  followed 
by  wistaria  and  azaleas  in  May,  iris  in  June,  and 
so  on  until  the  lotus  in  August  ends  the  gorgeous 
procession,  when,  temporarily  sated  with  masses 
of  color,  he  awaits  November  with  its  soberer 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS          109 

chrysanthemum  joys.  But  back  in  his  formal 
gardens  you  will  find  only  an  occasional  cherry 
tree  for  its  spring  value,  or  sundry  maples  for 
their  autumn  glory, — never  in  clumps  for  their 
own  display,  but  always  to  assist  the  general 
picture,  and  to  bring  out  the  other  charms  with 
which  they  are  here  associated.  Even  when  thus 
used,  their  color  enters  but  sparingly  into  the 
artist's  scheme.  It  is  true  that  mass  effects  of 
blossoming  fruit  trees,  maples,  etc.,  are  frequent 
in  Japanese  scenery,  but  not  in  the  gentle  and 
retired  art  which  we  are  considering.  Flower 
gardens  of  the  scale  and  type  known  and  loved 
in  America,  as  well  as  those  in  the  English 
manner,  are  practically  unknown  in  the  Orient. 
In  passing  it  should  be  remarked  that  the  Jap- 
anese are  no  more  skilful  as  translators  of  nature 
into  formal  gardens  than  in  their  amazing  deft- 
ness of  flower  arrangement.  They  assemble  into 
one  vase  differing  types  of  flowers, — the  tall  and 
the  short,  the  stiff  and  the  bending,  or  the  bright 
colored  with  others  of  duller  hue,  but  so  intelli- 
gently are  they  combined  that  together  they  are 
more  effective  than  when  seen  separately.  Here 
lies  a  pregnant  thought  for  the  student  of  inter- 
national relations,  seeking  a  way  to  better  under- 
standing between  such  contrasting  peoples  as 
the  Japanese  and  ourselves.  Frankly  recognize 


110    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

the  inequalities  between  our  two  civilizations,  and 
then,  instead  of  criticizing,  strive  to  balance  those 
inequalities. 

Almost  always  the  central  feature  of  a  Jap- 
anese garden  is  a  small  pond,  just  as  in  England 
there  is  generally  a  lawn.  The  centering  sig- 
nificance of  this  pond,  whose  feeding  and  out- 
let streams  are  the  garden's  very  blood,  was 
understood  by  the  warrior  Kumagaye  seeking 
asylum  for  his  sword,  and  we  too  shall  see  it  with 
his  eyes  before  our  garden  rambles  are  at  an  end. 
The  conventions  required  that  although  the  com- 
plete outline  of  a  pond  be  not  visible  from  any 
one  viewpoint,  both  its  source  of  water  supply  and 
the  outlet  must  be  shown  or  indicated,  otherwise 
it  is  "dead  water,"  and  anathema!  The  inflow 
should  be  from  the  east,  the  main  direction  of 
the  current  southerly,  and  the  outlet  toward  the 
west; — to  run  from  west  to  east  would  be  un- 
lucky! The  many  shapes  allowed  for  an  elegant 
pond  have  each  a  name, — for  example,  if  the  right 
portion  doubles  the  other's  width  and  is  round, 
it  is  called  "heart"  shape,  because  accommodat- 
ing the  Chinese  ideograph  thereof.  If  a  similar 
bulge  is  to  the  left,  it  is  named  "water,"  again 
because  of  a  Chinese  ideograph's  configuration. 

There  must  also  always  be  trees,  but  thought- 
fully chosen  and  combined  with  a  regard  for  their 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS          111 

significance;  at  least  four-fifths  should  be  ever- 
greens. Sen-no-Rikyu  (1521-1591)  used  large 
trees  in  his  foregrounds  and  lesser  ones  behind 
them,  thus  inaugurating  the  "Distance  Lower- 
ing" style  (Saki-sagari)  as  opposed  to  the  cus- 
tomary "Distance  Raising"  one  (Saki-agari).  A 
favorite  trio  is  the  pine,  bamboo,  and  plum  tree, 
because  they  represent  the  three  prime  virtues 
of  manhood — energy,  constancy  and  uprightness. 
Even  before  the  winter  snows  have  gone  the  en- 
ergetic plum  tree  shoots  out  its  compact  blossoms, 
thus  symbolizing  pluck  in  nature.  The  unchang- 
ing foliage  of  the  long-lived  pine  represents  the 
second  virtue,  while  the  bamboo  with  its  open 
heart  and  stiffly  perpendicular  growth  shows  us 
the  third. 

The  stones  of  differing  size  and  shape,  so  much 
used  and  prized  by  Japanese  garden  architects, 
each  tell  part  of  the  picture's  story.  They  are 
brought  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  com- 
mand fancy  prices.  Indeed,  during  the  Tempo 
period  (1830-44) ,  so  extravagant  grew  this  craze 
that  the  government  had  to  issue  an  edict  limiting 
the  price  one  could  pay  for  one!  Each  shape  has 
a  name  and  a  meaning  of  its  own,  which  you 
should  know  fully  to  comprehend  a  garden's  leg- 
end. Even  the  stepping-stones,  so  frequent  in 
the  paths,  tell  something,  as  does  also  their  plac- 


112          SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

ing.  A  height  of  six  inches  was  permissible  only 
for  those  in  Imperial  gardens,  four  inches  being 
enough  for  daimyos,  three  for  samurai,  and  one 
and  a  half  for  plainer  folk.  This  interest  in 
stones  reached  its  limit  in  the  Kare  Sansui,  or 
"dried-up-water-scenery,"  from  which  actual 
water  is  excluded,  and  only  indicated  by  stones 
placed  in  a  studied  manner.  An  interesting  ex- 
ample of  this  is  at  the  Shinnyo-in,  which  belongs 
to  the  Honkoku-ji. 

What  may  be  meant  by  the  graceful  little 
bridges  which  contribute  so  greatly  to  the 
pleasing  harmony  of  the  whole,  will  be  told 
later  in  our  story.  Most  of  the  old  gardens  will 
be  found  attached  to  temples,  and  this  is  both 
fitting  and  proper,  for  here  thought  is  led  back  to 
the  great  Power  House  which  under  varying 
names  men  worship  as  God.  And  where  has  man 
constructed  a  fitter  temple  for  high  thought  than 
a  fair  garden?  Gardens  anywhere  are  but  pearls 
which,  strung  on  a  great  golden  thread  of 
thought,  lead  back  to  the  original  Eden,  where, 
pure  as  the  harmony  of  nature  about  them,  Adam 
and  Eve  walked  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  un- 
afraid, before  the  Creator. 

Near  these  temple  gardens  are  often  sta- 
tioned pagodas,  those  picturesque  features  of 
the  Oriental  landscapes,  and  consideration  of 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    113 

their  structure  will  add  another  thought- 
product  to  our  gardens'  plentiful  yield.  Al- 
though the  frequent  earthquakes  make  Japan 
a  land  of  low  wooden  structures,  these  lofty 
pagodas  are  never  overthrown  by  even  the  most 
violent  and  prolonged  shocks.  Why? — the  Oc- 
cidental architect  will  give  credit  to  the  long  beam 
which,  after  protruding  high  in  the  air  above  the 
pointed  roof,  runs  down  through  the  building's 
centre,  and,  because  it  is  not  fixed  to  the  earth, 
serves  as  a  great  gyroscope  which,  swaying  in 
the  earthquake,  preserves  the  pagoda's  balance. 
But  what  will  the  Buddhist  priest  say? — he  whose 
forerunners  long  ago  brought  these  airy  and 
graceful  edifices  to  Japan.  He  will  tell  us  that 
the  pole  represents  Eternal  Truth  running  up 
through  all  creation;  that  the  nine  rings  encir- 
cling it  above  the  roof  together  symbolize  per- 
fection, three  times  the  complete  number  three ; — 
that  the  ball  with  a  point  at  the  top  and  three 
ridges  of  metal  flames  represents  eternity.  Es- 
pecially will  he  insist  that  the  long  pole  is  pur- 
posely kept  from  touching  the  earth  because 
Eternal  Truth  is  not  based  on  matter,  but  retains 
freedom  of  adjustment  to  meet  every  change  in 
the  material  conditions  which  may  surround  it. 
To  the  Buddhist,  therefore,  whose  religious  be- 
liefs gave  Japan  their  pagodas,  they  are  eveiy- 


114.         SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

where  upstanding  lessons  mutely  teaching  the 
passerby  the  preserving  and  beautifying  power 
of  Eternal  Truth. 

Kyoto  was  the  Imperial  capital  from  794  un- 
til 1868,  when  the  Mikado  transferred  his  seat  of 
government  to  Tokyo,  and  therefore  it  is  but 
natural  that  Japan's  greatest  display  of  all  that 
royalty  could  command  is  assembled  in  and  about 
that  city.  The  charm  of  its  situation,  nestled 
amid  a  wide-flung  circle  of  protecting  hills,  es- 
pecially lends  itself  to  the  fancy  and  the  genius 
of  the  garden  maker,  so  it  is  not  surprising  that 
a  great  school  of  them  here  arose  and  developed 
under  imperial,  princely  and  priestly  patronage. 
The  Kyoto  hills  afford  unsurpassed  backgrounds, 
and  the  numerous  gardens  set  against  or  fitted 
into  them  are  in  every  way  worthy  of  their  nature 
settings.  When  necessary  to  install  a  garden 
within  the  city  proper,  hilly  backgrounds  were 
simulated,  and  these  artificial  hillocks  challenge 
detection. 

Of  late  years  factories  and  other  unsightly  im- 
pedimenta of  modern  commerce  have  begun  to 
intrude  upon  the  beauty  of  some  of  these  old 
enclosures.  This  is  particularly  noticeable  about 
that  of  the  Awata  Palace,  where  the  two  great 
masters,  Kobori  Enshu  and  Soami,  collaborated, 
Soami  doing  the  southern  half  while  his  rival  did 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS          115 

the  other,  Thsre  they  contrived  a  sequestered 
nook  called  the  "Sorrow  Forgetting  Terrace," 
where  Oda  Nobunaga,  that  warlike  imperialist 
might  sit  unobserved  and  look  out  across  the  pic- 
turesque city  to  the  hills  beyond.  That  ancient 
aspect  has  been  ruined  by  the  intrusion  upon  its 
foreground  of  certain  factories,  but  they  are 
about  to  yield  to  another  modern  product, — a 
Municipal  Art  Commission  has  recently  been 
established,  and  will  remove  unsightly  buildings 
outside  the  city,  so  that  once  more  the  view  pre- 
pared for  the  long-dead  Shogun  will  be  available 
for  modern  eyes.  In  the  meantime  the  visitor, 
gazing  inward  from  the  wall,  may  feast  his  ap- 
preciations upon  the  graceful  stone  bridges,  tiny 
islands  and  sheltering  trees  that  together  enhance 
the  attractiveness  of  the  oddly  shaped  "Dragon's 
Heart"  pool  at  the  centre.  At  the  Joju-in,  the 
residence  of  the  Abbot  of  Kyomizu-dera  (on  the 
left  as  one  mounts  the  steps  to  the  temple) ,  Soami 
and  Kabori  Enshu  again  treated  the  same  prob- 
lem, but  instead  of  apportioning  it  between  them, 
as  at  the  Awata,  here  Soami  designed  the  whole 
garden  in  the  first  place,  and  then,  later  on,  his 
rival  improved  upon  it.  It  was  a  case  of  "paint- 
ing the  lily,"  but  he  painted  it  successfully.  A 
local  guidebook  written  in  quaint  English  re- 
marks that  "it  is  a  finest  garden,"  and  it  truly  is. 


116         SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

The  rooms  at  the  Awata  Palace  facing  on  the 
garden  are  walled  with  painted  fusuma  (or  slid- 
ing screens )  and  afford  a  charming  coign  of  van- 
tage from  which  to  view  it,  especially  the  one 
across  whose  fusuma  is  pictured  the  story  of 
sundry  poets  stationed  along  a  watercourse  run- 
ning through  a  garden,  engaged  in  a  pastime  of 
Chinese  origin,  indulged  in  on  the  third  day  of 
the  third  month.  Down  the  stream  float  wine- 
cups  borne  upon  lotus  leaves,  and  each  poet  in 
turn  must  write  a  verse  whilst  a  cup  is  floating 
toward  him  from  his  next  neighbor  upstream. 
Downstream  some  mischievous  boys  are  drawing 
the  cups  ashore  and  draining  them.  This  reminds 
us  that  the  more  Chinesy  an  old  Japanese  paint- 
ing (and  to  resemble  the  Chinese  was  one  of  the 
canons  of  art  excellence),  the  more  certainly 
must  there  be  children  depicted  therein.  A  room 
at  the  Nanzenji  temple  painted  by  Kano  Eitoku 
(one  of  the  finest  in  all  Kyoto)  shows  upon  its 
dulled  gold  backgrounds  eighteen  children  among 
its  sixty-nine  figures.  The  writer  quite  sym- 
pathizes with  the  Awata  poets'  selection  of  a  spot 
for  literary  composition,  for  this  chapter  is  being 
written  "lentus  in  umbra,"  partly  in  the  lovely 
Konchi-in  garden  arid  partly  under  the  giant 
cryptomeria  trees  in  the  twelve-centuries-old  park 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS         117 

at  Nara,  with  herds  of  tame  deer  browsing  quietly 
about. 

We  have  already  noticed  that  at  the  Kurodani 
Temple  and  the  Awata  Palace,  as  in  most  Jap- 
anese gardens,  the  pond  with  its  rippling  rivu- 
lets and  waterfalls  is  the  dominating  feature  of 
the  artificial  landscape.  There  must  always  be 
waterfalls  lest  we  forget  the  power  that  sleeps 
in  water.  This  is  a  thought  which  begets  think- 
ing upon  the  Japanese  appreciation  of  that 
power.  Nowhere  throughout  those  islands  is 
one  ever  far  from  the  hills  with  their  frequent 
watercourses,  which  from  time  immemorial  have 
done  their  part  in  the  nation's  industry.  These 
streams  mean  a  wealth  of  water-power,  and  of  its 
significance  to  Japan  we  have  already  spoken. 

But  let  us  follow  this  thought-thread  back  to 
our  gardens  away  from  which  it  led  us  off  into 
the  heart  of  the  great  problem  of  industrial 
power.  Let  it  bring  us  to  the  balcony  of  the  Kin- 
kaku-ji  or  Golden  Pavilion  where,  as  we  toss 
bits  of  bread  to  a  struggling  throng  of  overgrown 
gold  fish  and  look  out  upon  a  winsome  wood- 
land picture,  melodious  waterfalls  nearby  whisper 
"Power,  power."  This  garden  was  already  an 
old  one  when  in  1285  Emperor  Go-Ude  visited 
it.  It  came  into  its  chief  glory  when  given  to 
Yoshimitsu,  the  greatest  Shogun  of  the  Ashikaga 


118         SOME    OLD   KYOTO   GARDENS 

family,  who  began  to  live  here  in  1395.  It  was 
he  who  built  this  graceful  three  storied  wooden 
pavilion  and  gilded  it.  A  match  could  at  any 
time  destroy  the  flimsy  structure,  and  yet  there 
it  has  stood  for  centuries,  hidden  among  its  shel- 
tering trees  and  musing  above  its  Mirror  Pond 
(whose  three  islets  represent  Japan's  three  prin- 
cipal islands)  whilst  many  a  massive  edifice  of 
enduring  stone  or  brick  has  disappeared  or  fallen 
into  unrecognizable  ruins.  The  great  Ashikaga 
family  ruled  as  Shoguns  from  1338  until  1573, 
and  preceded  that  even  mightier  family  of  Sho- 
guns, the  Tokugawas,  who  governed  from  1600 
until  1867,  when  occurred  the  restoration  of  power 
to  the  Emperor.  To  these  Tokugawas  the  whole 
artistic  world  is  indebted  for  that  amazing  glory 
of  lacquer,  color  and  carvings  known  as  the  lye- 
yasu  and  the  lyemitsu  mausolea,  enshrined  upon 
the  Nikko  hills  amid  the  giant  cryptomeria  trees. 
The  seclusion  of  these  old  Shogun  potentates' 
gardens  yields  another  thought-thread,  this  time 
leading  out  into  the  field  of  governmental  ad- 
ministration. Students  of  history  sometimes 
marvel  at  the  fact  that  for  over  six  and  a  half 
centuries  the  Imperial  power  was  usurped  by 
the  Shoguns,  who  left  the  Emperors  nothing  but 
the  empty  shell  of  court  life,  adorned  and  lux- 
uriously disguised  as  its  powerlessness  might  be, 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    119 

and  generally  was.  But  why  should  we  consider 
this  so-called  usurpation  as  at  all  strange?  How 
are  England  and  France  governed  today?  Is 
it  not  the  English  Prime  Minister  and  not  the 
King  who  really  rules  the  land? — and  was  it  not 
the  President  of  the  French  Council  of  Ministers 
(the  Premier),  that  splendid  veteran  statesman 
Georges  Clemenceau,  and  not  the  President,  who 
really  governed  France  during  the  recent  and 
greatest  crisis  in  her  history?  This  invention 
of  the  Shoguns  relieved  the  real  adminstrative 
head  of  the  Government  from  much  time-exact- 
ing routine  of  state  functions,  leaving  him  more 
leisure  for  executive  duties  than  can  be  secured 
by  an  American  President.  These  old  Japanese 
Shoguns,  after  taking  from  the  Emperor  all  con- 
trol of  his  country,  evolved  another  shrewdly 
practical  device  for  simplifying  lives  of  execu- 
tives. Yoshimitsu  was  but  one  of  them  to  put 
the  device  into  practice.  He  resigned  his  high 
office  and  took  priestly  vows,  ostensibly  retiring 
from  the  world,  but  in  reality  continuing  to  rule 

•/  O 

from  within  the  seclusion  of  the  garden  about 
the  Golden  Pavilion  as  completely  as  while  offi- 
cially the  Shogun.  The  only  difference  was  that 
he  thus  escaped  innumerable  official  interviews 
and  all  the  time-consuming  red  tape  of  bureau- 
cracy, and  obtained  leisure  amidst  thought- 


120    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

inspiring  surroundings  to  work  out  his  political 
plans  and  think  over  methods  for  their  further- 
ance. He  discarded  the  glittering  husks  of  power 
and,  undisturbed,  enjoyed  its  sweet  kernel.  Ask 
any  President  or  Governor  or  Mayor  in  the 
United  States  what  this  would  mean  for  him! 
But  of  course  there  are  two  sides  to  every  ques- 
tion. In  a  republic,  although  we  like  a  boss,  we 
regard  with  suspicion  any  Executive  who  se- 
cludes himself,  for  we  believe  it  renders  him  self- 
opinionated,  and  finally  autocratic.  The  rulers 
of  Japan  always  have  been  frankly  autocratic, 
so  that,  which  with  us  is  disapproved,  there  bears 
the  stamp  of  ages-old  public  approval. 

A  little  later  another  great  Japanese  ruler, 
Toyotomi  Hideyoshi,  in  like  manner  to  Yoshi- 
mitsu,  made  the  public  gesture  of  retiring  from 
official  life  without  really  relinquishing  his  power, 
and  it  is  significant  that  he  too  chose  a  garden 
for  that  purpose — the  delicious  one  of  the  Kodai- 
ji.  The  artist  Kobori  so  planned  it  that  when 
Hideyoshi  sat  of  an  evening  upon  the  balcony 
of  the  building  ceiled  with  decks  from  his  war- 
junks  that  conquered  Korea,  he  could  indulge  in 
the  elegant  pastime  of  looking  out  upon  the  moon 
with  the  Gwaryo-no-ike  (or  sleeping  dragon 
pond)  just  at  his  left,  and  the  twin  Kame-no-ike 
and  Tsuru-no-ike  (turtle  and  stork  ponds)  on 


SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS          121 

his  right  to  aid  in  reflecting  throughout  the 
foliage  the  silvery  rays  of  the  moon.  Just  a 
little  way  down  the  hill  is  the  modest  dower  house, 
Entoku-in,  to  which  Yoshiko,  Hideyoshi's  widow, 
withdrew.  It  is  provided  with  a  small  garden 
also  designed  by  Kobori  Enshu,  and  brought 
hither  from  Hideyoshi's  estate  at  Momayama, 
outside  Kyoto  to  the  south.  The  artist  has  here 
worked  out  a  half  moon  effect,  developing  its 
graceful  curve  by  three  small  stone  bridges 
swung  around  through  the  foreground.  Another 
of  Hideyoshi's  Momoyama  gardens,  one  of  the 
rare  Sotetsu  type,  was  so  highly  considered  that 
long  after  his  death  a  Tokugawa  Shogun  had  it 
brought  to  Kyoto  and  presented  it  to  the  Nishi 
Hongwanji  temple,  where  it  is  installed  in  the 
southeastern  corner  of  the  great  enclosure.  It 
is  called  Tokusui-in,  and  contains  the  "Pavil- 
ion of  the  Floating  Clouds;"  it  is  a  garden  whose 
charms  do  not  reveal  themselves  until  he  who  has 
looked  out  upon  it  follows  the  paths  and  pene- 
trates its  loveliness.  Perhaps  it  is  to  the  thoughts 
born  of  Hideyoshi's  love  of  gardens  that  we  may 
ascribe  the  transformation  that  came  about  in 
him,  for  he  who  began  as  a  rude  warrior  left  be- 
hind him  a  wealth  of  art  treasures  created  at  his 
command  that  show  his  taste  to  have  been  eclectic. 
The  world  has  probably  never  seen  a  more  ruth- 


122    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

less  art  collector,  for  after  his  conquest  of  Korea 
he  was  not  content  with  bringing  home  all  its 
art  treasures  as  the  spoil  of  his  bow  and  spear, 
but  also  he  carried  over  to  Japan  as  enforced 
colonists  whole  villages  of  Korean  artists  and 
artisans,  so  that  the  arts  and  crafts  of  his  home- 
land should  be  enriched  by  their  skill  and  their 
traditions. 

The  aesthetic  enjoyment  of  moonlight  by  the 
medieval  Japanese  recalls  a  memorable  evening 
spent  upon  the  upper  balcony  of  the  Ginkaku-ji 
or  Silver  Pavilion  looking  down  upon  its  ravish- 
ing garden  done  in  1477  for  Yoshimasa,  last  of 
the  Ashikaga  Shoguns,  by  Soami,  that  master 
of  all  the  exquisite  court  refinements  of  the  time. 
Take  thought  here  for  a  moment  that  it  was  but 
shortly  after  the  creation  of  this  sylvan  retreat, 
with  all  it  meant  of  its  epoch's  highest  culture, 
that  Christopher  Columbus  was  begging  the  ships 
necessary  for  the  voyage  to  Zipangu  (as  Japan 
was  then  called).  Soami's  nature  picture  at  the 
Silver  Pavilion  was  so  composed  that  by  night, 
against  the  jet  black  background  of  the  hill,  one 
has  in  the  right  foreground  the  moon-reflecting 
pond,  balanced  by  placing  over  against  it,  in  the 
left  upper  middle-ground,  two  objects  which  by 
day  seem  meaningless — two  oddly  shaped  flat- 
topped  sand  platforms,  one  about  three  feet  high, 


123 

with  a  surface  as  large  as  four  or  five  billiard 
tables,  and  the  other,  somewhat  higher,  a  trun- 
cated cone,  so  placed  as  to  fit  into  a  bay  in  the 
side  of  its  larger  companion.  Upon  the  surface 
of  the  larger  are  incised  geometric  patterns.  By 
moonlight  one  grasps  at  once  their  purpose  and 
significance — the  hard  glittering  surface  of  the 
white  sand  serves  as  an  ideal  reflector  for  the 
soft  moonlight,  diffusing  from  beneath  the  trees 
a  weird  unearthly  light  throughout  the  whole 
garden.  Through  the  trees  at  the  back  winds  a 
path  whose  white  sand  surface  comes  out  strong- 
ly at  night,  and  simulates  the  meandering  river, 
such  an  admired  feature  in  the  pictures  on  the  old 
fusuma  and  screens.  Before  the  writer  had  en- 
joyed this  entrancing  glimpse  into  medieval 
artistic  expression  he  was  but  an  interested  tour- 
ist in  Kyoto,  but  then  and  there  he  fell  head  over 
heels  in  love  with  the  ages-old  tradition  of  the 
city  and  its  lovely  district.  This  transformation 
was  aided  by  three  temple  acolytes  serving  cups 
of  ceremonial  tea,  faintly  frothing  because 
brewed  from  whipped  tea-powder  and  not  leaves. 
In  such  scenes  one  easily  becomes  persuaded  that 
tea  has  inspired  more  loveliness  than  opium-be- 
gotten dreams  or  the  mental  stimulus  of  alcohol. 
Sometimes  tea  has  even  exercised  an  influence 


124    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

of  international  significance, — witness  the  inci- 
dent called  "the  Boston  Tea  Party!" 

In  these  and  similar  inspiring  garden  sur- 
roundings there  developed  a  school  of  dilettanti 
devoting  their  lives  to  the  refining  of  the  already 
ultra-refined.  They  began  with  the  everyday 
serving  of  tea,  and  from  its  homely  details 
developed,  step  by  step,  the  elaborations  of  the 
cha-no-yu,  or  tea  ceremony,  a  thorough  grasp  of 
whose  studied  intricacies  was  required  for  the 
"compleat  gentleman"  of  those  early  court 
circles.  In  this  same  garden  stands  the  dainty 
tea-house  built  by  Soami  to  launch  his  new  idea 
of  a  room  of  only  four  and  a  half  mat  size — 
dimensions  which  those  deep-thinking  elegants 
considered  perfection.  You  must  know  that  al- 
ways in  Japan  a  mat  has  measured  six  feet  long 
by  three  wide,  and  always  floor  space  has  been 
described  in  terms  of  mats.  Soami's  four  and  a 
half  mat  dimensions  allowed  a  half  mat  space  in 
the  centre  for  the  necessary  tea-making  utensils, 
with  the  other  four  mats  squared  lengthwise  about 
it  for  the  devotees.  Now  consider  what  thoughts 
were  thus  translated  into  things;  a  four  and  a 
half  mat  floor  meant  a  square  of  nine  feet.  Three 
is  the  number  denoting  completeness  because  it 
contains  the  affirmative,  the  negative  and  the  posi- 
tive, thus  leaving  nothing  outside.  Three  times 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    125 

three,  or  nine,  then  spells  a  completed  perfection, 
and  when  they  gave  the  tea-house  a  height  of 
nine  feet,  they  gained  a  cubic  capacity  of  nine  in 
each  of  the  three  dimensions — a  metaphysical 
result  highly  pleasing  to  their  aesthetic  appreci- 
ations. From  this  agreeable  trifling  with  tea 
etiquette  these  early  precieux  passed  on  to  num- 
erous other  artificialities,  such  as  competitions  in 
poetizing,  in  flower  arrangement  or  in  classify- 
ing grades  of  incense  by  inhaling  their  perfumes, 
inventing  scores  of  designs  for  stone  lanterns, 
garden  fences,  etc.  In  short,  exquisites  like 
Yoshimasa,  Soami,  Rikyu  and  their  ilk  make  the 
dainty  efforts  of  Marie  Antoinette  and  her  circle 
at  the  Petit  Trianon  seem  but  boorish  horseplay. 
It  was  in  such  diversions  that  Yoshimasa's  life 
was  spent,  and  so  one  readily  understands  why 
with  him  the  power  of  the  Ashikaga  Shoguns 
went  down  in  a  glowing  sunset  of  refined  bril- 
liancy. 

The  use  of  white  sand  in  platforms  or  be- 
patterned  lawn  surfaces  of  modest  dimensions 
is  to  be  seen  in  other  gardens  of  the  old  school, 
and  we  shall  soon  notice  that  the  darker  shadows 
that  come  with  the  moonlight  give  greater  defi- 
niteness  and  value  to  the  patterns  incised  upon 
the  sand  surfaces.  This  will  be  easily  remarked 
in  the  Kobori  Enshu  gardens  at  the  Konchi-in, 


126         SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

called  the  Tsuru-Kame-no-Niwa  or  Crane  and 
Tortoise  garden,  designed  by  order  of  the  Toku- 
gawa  Shogun  lyeyasu,  and  also  at  the  Tenju- 
an,  a  spot  to  be  visited  in  the  late  afternoon  when 
the  westerly  light  picks  out  the  hillock  of  stone 
lying  at  the  back  of  the  pond,  hardly  noticeable 
in  the  morning.  The  white  sand  parterre  at 
Konchi-in  represents  a  lake,  and  the  rocks  are 
arranged  to  make  up  the  Chinese  ideograph  for 
"heart,"  a  favorite  symbol.  Kobori  Enshu  was 
also  the  creator  of  the  eight-windowed  ceremonial 
tea-house  to  the  right.  Both  these  two  delight- 
ful retreats  lie  close  to  the  alluring  Nanzenji 
demesne. 

At  the  Honen-in,  a  little  further  on  along  the 
hillsides  toward  the  Ginkakuji,  don't  fail  to  skirt 
the  buildings  to  the  right,  and  you  will  be  re- 
warded by  coming  upon  the  dearest  little  gar- 
den anywhere  to  be  found.  Its  every  detail  is 
in  reduced  scale,  but  there  are  lacking  none  of 
the  traditional  features — pond,  stream,  path, 
bridges,  rocks,  trees,  lanterns — all  are  here.  But 
it  is  into  the  Nanzenji  itself  one  must  pene- 
trate for  a  sight  of  the  furthest  development, 
along  ultra-aesthetic  lines,  of  the  sand  garden  in 
Kyoto.  Here,  seated  upon  the  threshold  of  Kano 
Eitoku's  Chinesey  chef  d'oeuvre  of  a  room  (24 
mats)  we  look  out  upon  a  small  garden  ninety 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    127 

feet  broad  by  forty  deep,  backed  by  a  wall.  All 
that  the  unenlightened  foreigner  can  see  is  a  flat 
stretch  of  sand  with  no  water  at  all,  behind  whose 
left  two-thirds  is  a  slight  background  of  bushes, 
one  small  pine  and  several  large  rocks,  while 
off  in  the  right  hand  corner  stands  a  clump 
of  three  shrubs.  That  is  all,  and  yet  to  the 
artistically  sensitive  Japanese  imagination  we  are 
gazing  upon  a  spot  where  a  tigress  teaches  her 
young  to  cross  a  stream!  Lest  some  reader 
be  hereby  discouraged  from  visiting  Kyoto 
gardens,  we  hasten  to  add  that  this  is  the  only 
one  which  needs  explanation  to  be  pleasing.  Out- 
side Kyoto  to  the  northwest,  at  the  Ryuan-ji 
temple  there  is  a  garden,  called  Taranoko  Wat- 
ashi,  even  more  esoteric.  Soami  did  it,  and  upon 
a  flat  sanded  space  seventy  by  thirty  feet  with  no 
water,  grass,  bushes  or  trees  and  no  background 
but  the  wall,  he  has  deftly  stationed  five  groups 
of  two  or  three  stones  each,  none  more  than  two 
feet  high.  To  the  cultured  Japanese  garden 
student  this  has  for  nearly  five  centuries  satis- 
fyingly  depicted  the  glories  of  the  Inland  Sea! 
Probably  from  no  other  garden  in  the  world  do 
its  admirers  (and  it  has  many)  draw  so  much 
of  their  satisfaction  from  mind  and  so  little  from 
matter. 


128          SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

The  Japanese  hold  that  it  requires  more  skill 
to  conceal  the  artificiality  of  a  small  garden  than 
of  a  large  one,  but  notwithstanding  its  difficulty, 
they  are  happier  in  the  treatment  of  the  former. 
A  case  in  point  is  the  large  garden,  called 
"Kikoku-tei"  (Arbor  of  citrus  fusca)  given  by 
Shogun  lyemitsu  in  1631  to  the  Higashi  Hong- 
wanji  temple.  Its  pond  is  so  large  as  to  be  prac- 
ticable for  boats,  which  pass  around  its  gracefully 
disposed  islands  and  under  the  picturesque 
bridges  connecting  them.  But  the  scene,  though 
undeniably  pretty,  is  not  Japanese, — it  reminds 
one,  instead,  of  the  Kew  Gardens,  London.  It 
is  rather  like  a  very  pretty  girl  with  nothing  to 
say! 

As  a  rule,  Japanese  gardens,  though  compara- 
tively limited  in  extent,  give  a  surprising  illusion 
of  size,  generally  produced  by  a  depth  dispro- 
portionate to  the  width.  That  at  the  Chishaku 
temple,  across  the  street  from  the  Imperial 
Museum,  affords  an  interesting  exception  to  this 
rule.  Here  Sen-no-Rikyu  gets  his  effect  of  size 
not  by  depth  in  the  middle,  but  by  bringing  in  to- 
ward you  at  the  centre  a  steep  verdure-clad  bank, 
and  then  swinging  his  right  and  left  portions  out 
and  away.  The  result  is  as  pleasing  as  it  is  effec- 
tive. We  have  here  another  unusual  touch, — the 
pond  gives  off  a  stream  from  the  left  foreground 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    129 

which  wanders  around  behind  you  between  two 
temple  buildings  connected  by  arched  bridges. 
It  was  in  the  agreeable  retirement  of  the  Chishaku 
compound  that  the  Japanese,  with  understanding 
courtesy,  confined  the  Russian  Admiral  taken  at 
their  great  naval  victory  in  Tsushima  Straits. 

Rikyu's  modest  home  still  exists  in  the  Kam- 
igyo  quarter  of  Kyoto.  It  is  set  in  so  small  an 
enclosure  as  would  seem  to  preclude  any  garden, 
and  yet  within  this  narrow  space,  by  means  of 
the  esoteric  placing  of  stepping  stones,  a  few 
trees,  a  bamboo  gateway  and  a  pair  of  cha-no-yu 
tea-houses,  he  contrived  to  portray  a  complete 
poetic  pilgrimage.  The  taste  of  the  time  required 
a  shallow  garden  to  harmonize  with  the  compact 
completeness  of  the  house.  There  it  all  stands 
to-day  just  as  he  left  it,  except  that  it  is  now  over- 
shadowed by  a  three  hundred  year  old  icho  tree, 
which  in  his  time  was  still  in  scale  with  the  other 
miniature  details.  The  stepping  stones  used  here 
are  of  the  type  especially  reserved  for  chaniwa 
or  tea-house  gardens.  The  larger  one,  cut  like 
two  steps,  from  which  one  mounts  the  wooden 
balcony,  is  of  the  form  called  "sword  resting" 
because  it  served  to  remind  the  entering  daimyo 
or  samurai  that  swords  were  not  allowed  within 
an  edifice  devoted  to  the  peaceful  pastime  of  cha- 
no-yu,  but  must  be  left  in  the  rack  outside. 


130    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

Rikyu's  house  is  now  a  shrine  to  his  memory, 
and  there  students  of  the  tea-ceremony  daily  burn 
incense  before  a  carved  wood  portrait  figure  of 
him,  obviously  done  with  loving  care  by  the  great 
Hidari  Jingoro,  that  lefthanded  wizard  of  the 
chisel.  Rikyu's  life  shows  strange  contrasts  of 
fortune.  The  great  Nobunaga  gave  him  the  title 
of  Sosho,  or  Professor  of  the  Elegant  Arts,  and 
though  he  also  pleased  JJideyoshi  and  became 
his  teacher,  that  autocrat,  in  the  end,  turned 
against  him,  and  ordered  him  to  commit  hara- 
kiri  at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  In  the  adjoin- 
ing house  a  lineal  descendant  of  Rikyu's,  Mr. 
Senke,  practises  the  refined  intricacies  of  the  cha- 
no-yu.  His  performance  for  us  of  that  time- 
honored  ceremony  was  a  poem  of  grace,  dignity 
and  tradition.  Nothing  could  be  defter  than  his 
every  movement,  especially  the  novel  one  to  our 
eyes  of  whipping  the  tea  powder  with  a  fine  bam- 
boo whisk  into  a  frothy  compound — a  Chinese 
poet  called  it  "Froth  of  the  Liquid  Jade!"  Far 
back,  in  the  time  of  the  Tang  Dynasty,  tea  came 
in  cakes,  and  was  boiled.  Later,  under  the  Sung 
Emperors,  it  was  made  into  a  powder,  and 
whipped  in  hot  water.  Then  the  Mongolians  in 
the  thirteenth  century  overflowed  China,  sub- 
merging the  Sungs  and  all  their  refinements,  in- 
cluding tea  etiquette.  With  the  Ming  Dynasty 


SOME    OLD   KYOTO   GARDENS         131 

In  the  fifteenth  century  came  in  the  now  famil- 
iar method  of  preparing  tea  by  steeping  its  leaves 
in  hot  water.  The  Japanese  beat  off  the  Mon- 
golian invasion  in  1281,  and  thus  in  their  tea  cere- 
mony is  preserved  all  the  early  tea-cult  traditions 
of  the  Sung  times,  lost  in  China.  It  is  difficult 
to  imagine  a  more  pleasing  combination  of 
thoughtful  precision,  deftness  and  grace,  with 
never  a  wasted  motion,  than  the  exercise  of  this 
highly  prized  accomplishment  displa}7s  to  our 
modern  eyes,  whether  performed  by  a  successor 
of  an  ancient  master  in  the  old  homestead,  or  in 
the  Shinto  Abbot's  house  at  Nikko  before  ad- 
mission to  the  lyeyasu  Shrine's  Holy  of  Holies, 
or  when  enjoying  the  benign  hospitality  of  the 
Chief  Abbot  of  the  Buddhist  monasteries  on  the 
secluded  summit  of  lofty  Koya  San.  Always 
it  is  a  harmonious  voice  out  of  the  distant  past, — 
clear,  complete  and  satisfying. 

One  of  the  few  really  large  gardens  hereabouts 
is  that  of  the  Imperial  palace  of  Shugaku-in 
which  lies  just  outside  the  city  to  the  northeast. 
Perched  on  a  sloping  hillside,  its  aspect  is  down- 
ward and  outward  instead  of  facing  toward  the 
customary  background  of  trees.  The  pond  here, 
named  from  its  shape  ''The  dragon,"  reaches  al- 
most the  proportions  of  a  small  lake,  and  looking 
off  across  it  one  sees  the  fertile  plain  backed  by 


132         SOME    OLD   KYOTO    GARDENS 

hill  beyond  hill  standing  like  sentinels  to  guard 
the  ancient  capital.  On  the  left,  on  the  way  down 
from  this  upper  garden  a  path  leads  off  to  an  en- 
closure devoted  to  the  Empress.  Here  two  bijou 
edifices,  one  a  bit  below  the  other,  look  out  upon 
a  rambling  garden  of  four  or  five  levels,  each 
with  its  own  pool,  but  all  connected  by  the  water- 
falls of  a  tiny  rivulet. 

The  highway  from  Shugaku-in  leads  on  north- 
easterly over  the  narrowing  plain  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohara  valley,  up  which  a  branch  road 
winds  between  the  crowding  hills  through  de- 
lightful scenery  to  two  religious  establishments 
across  the  valley  from  each  other ,-»-the  San- 
zen-in  monastery,  and  the  small  convent  of 
Jakko-in.  At  the  monastery  we  shall  find  two 
gardens,  a  lower  and  an  upper  one,  the  former  of 
the  usual  type  but  running  deeply  into  the  forest 
background,  and  the  latter  even  more  ancient 
and  pleasing.  It  enjoys  a  more  open  treatment 
than  is  generally  seen.  One  can  look  out  some 
distance  under  the  trees,  and  more  freedom  is 
displayed  in  placing  the  connected  pools  about 
in  the  open,  without  artificial  settings  around 
them.  This  garden  yields  the  surprising  thought 
that  from  the  sound  of  its  waterfalls  and  the  wind 
through  its  trees  was  born  a  nation's  music.  Some 
one  has  said  that  if  he  might  write  the  songs  of 


SOME    OLD   KYOTO    GARDENS         133 

a  people  he  cared  not  who  wrote  its  laws.  What 
then  shall  be  said  of  a  garden  whose  sounds  begot 
Japan's  music!  But  how? — it  came  about  in  this 
wise.  The  Japanese  sage  Dengyo  Daishi,  while 
pursuing  his  Buddhist  studies  in  China,  became 
enamored  of  their  theory  of  music,  and  decided 
to  introduce  it  at  home.  First  he  set  about  to 
find  an  environment  similar  to  that  of  the  Chinese 
monastery  where  he  studied.  Here  he  found  it, 
and  here,  late  in  the  eighth  century,  he  established 
his  temple  and  its  garden.  Sitting  there  in  medi- 
tation during  many  days,  the  melody  of  its  water- 
falls and  the  wind  overhead  through  the  trees 
gradually  took  shape  in  his  consciousness.  Their 
harmony  became  so  definite  to  his  meditating 
senses  that  he  set  it  down  in  musical  notation,  and 
of  it  formed  the  basis  for  Japan's  music.  Nor 
did  there  come  from  this  garden  nothing  more 
practical  than  music.  Among  the  store  of  learn- 
ing brought  thither  from  China  by  this  sage  was 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  court  etiquette.  This 
he  handed  down  to  his  successors  here,  with  the 
result  that  they  were  long  the  arbiters  of  court 
ceremonials,  the  order  of  official  precedence,  etc. 
This  control  of  social  protocol  at  court  meant 
political  power — a  surprisingly  practical  product 
for  a  garden!  The  Jakko-in  convent,  snuggled 
into  a  recess  in  the  hillside  over  against  the  San- 


134.         SOME    OLD    KYOTO    GARDENS 

zen-in,  is  a  pretty  combination  of  many-stepped 
approach  with  a  small  and  natural  garden  amid 
bungalows  and  shrines. 

One  of  Kyoto's  many  nature  treats  is  a  trip 
down  the  Hozu-gawa  rapids  which,  for  an  hour 
and  a  half,  take  us  through  a  winding  cleft  in 
the  hills  and  end  in  the  deservedly  popular 
Arashiyama  woodland  park,  famous  for  its 
cherry  blossoms  in  early  spring  and  its  maple 
foliage  in  late  November.  If  a  feeble  joke  be 
permitted,  these  rapids  have  been  shot  so  often 
that  they  are  now  nearly  dead,  but  what  one  lacks 
in  excitement  is  more  than  made  up  by  hill  and 
stream  scenery,  the  plentiful  bird  life,  and  the 
constantly  shifting  views  ahead  and  astern.  The 
return  to  town  can  be  made  by  train,  but  if  one 
has  a  motor  sent  out  it  will  be  found  waiting  in 
front  of  the  Tenryu-ji  temple.  Behind  its  living 
apartments,  which  are  to  the  right,  is  a  broad 
garden  whose  large  pond  runs  well  back  into  and 
under  the  tall  trees  forming  the  background.  A 
small  peninsula  juts  out  to  the  left  from  the 
right  foreground — a  pretty  touch.  Soseki  de- 
signed the  garden  in  1339  by  order  of  Ashikaga 
Takau-ji,  in  memory  of  Emperor  Godaigo. 

A  few  minutes  beyond  the  Tenryu-ji  is  the 
Saga-no- Shaka-do,  where  during  an  impressive 
service  a  curtain  rolls  up  back  of  the  main  altar 


SOME    OLD   KYOTO    GARDENS         135 

and  discloses  a  figure  of  Shaka  brought  here  from 
China  in  987.  So  lifelike  is  it  that  when  he  in 
person  visited  the  temple  the  figure  itself  recog- 
nized him  and  walked  down  the  steps  to  greet 
him!  At  the  back  of  the  temple  lies  an  ample 
and  open  garden  planned  to  display  to  best 
advantage  the  Benten-do,  one  of  the  loveliest 
creations  of  the  Japanese  woodcarver.  Its  small 
exterior  of  warmly  brown  wood  is  smothered  with 
chiselled  detail.  About  ten  minutes  further  on 
nearer  town  is  the  Ninna-ji  temple  lying  to  the 
left  just  inside  the  impressive  entrance  of  the 
Omurogosho  compound,  whose  wide  sweep  of 
steps  are  crowned  at  the  top  by  another  temple 
and  a  great  pagoda,  a  landmark  for  miles  around. 
The  Ninna-ji  is  rich  in  the  possession  of  two 
large  gardens  of  the  usual  type,  both  well  worth 
seeing,  but  differing  agreeably  from  each  other. 
Here  also  are  many  storied  screens,  alluring 
for  those  interested  in  the  country's  history  or 
painting. 

Another  trip  out  of  town,  this  time  to  the 
southeast,  travels  up  and  through  a  narrow  pass, 
at  whose  further  end  there  bursts  upon  us  a 
glorious  panorama  of  valley  below  and  hills  be- 
yond. We  wind  down  the  mountain  road,  per- 
haps stopping  at  its  foot  to  see  the  once  pretty 
but  now  rather  neglected  garden  of  the  Konshu- 


136    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

ji,  which  has  one  of  the  largest  ponds  in  the 
district.  A  little  further  on  comes  the  really  sur- 
prising loveliness  of  the  Sanbo-in  (or  Daigo-ji) 
garden.  Here  again  we  are  indebted  to  Hide- 
yoshi's  taste.  The  artistically  stunted  pine  in 
the  foreground  has  its  foliage  trained  and 
trimmed  into  rounded  tufts  in  the  much  admired 
Tamatsuri  manner.  There  are  many  who  credit 
this  sequestered  nook  with  more  charm  than  any 
of  its  lovely  sisters  in  and  about  Kyoto.  Even 
the  most  meticulous  critics  can  only  comment  that 
two  of  its  turf -covered  bridges  are  similar,  thus 
contravening  the  strictest  canons.  For  my  part, 
he  who  sees  anything  but  pleasing  perfection  in 
this  spot  should  be  classed  with  the  Sybarite  so 
sensitive  that,  reclining  on  a  bed  of  rose-leaves,  he 
complained  that  one  of  them  was  creased !  These 
picturesque  earth  -  topped  bridges  (called  do- 
bashi)  are  not  fanciful  inventions  to  please  the 
eye,  but  are  frequent  in  Japan,  where  wooden 
viaducts  covered  with  earth  sometimes  keep  the 
traveller  from  noticing  that  his  road  has  tempo- 
rarily left  the  solid  ground. 

The  most  attractive  garden  bridge  in  Kyoto 
is  undoubtedly  the  ancient  stone  one  fetched 
from  the  old  palace  of  Bishamon  (out  on  the 
Lake  Biwa  road)  and  installed  in  the  garden  of 
the  Senten  Gosho,  an  Imperial  Palace  formerly 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    137 

used  by  the  late  Dowager  Empress.  Here, 
beneath  a  sheltering  wistaria  trellis,  there  spans 
the  pond  a  quaint  conceit  in  time-beautified  stone. 
It  is  as  if  the  verdant  banks  were  connected  by 
three  junks,  the  bow  of  the  first  protruding  be- 
yond the  stern  of  the  second,  and  it  in  turn 
beyond  that  of  the  third,  and  so  on  to  the  shore. 
It  is  as  graceful  as  it  is  unusual,  and  quite  in 
the  early  Chinese  spirit,  and  therefore  pleasing 
to  the  medieval  Japanese  aesthete.  To  one  think- 
ing in  this  garden,  this  bridge  of  boats  leads  the 
mind  on  and  out  to  the  wide  subject  of  ocean 
carriage, — to  a  merchant  marine  carrying  across 
from  home  shores  to  foreign  markets  the  exports 
whose  expansion  means  so  much  to  a  nation's 
life.  Japan,  by  a  wise  system  of  subsidies,  has 
thus  thrown  bridges  of  modern  ships  from  her 
factories  across  to  distant  purchasers,  bringing 
back  to  her  people  in  profits  many  times  the 
taxes  needed  for  the  upbuilding  subsidies,  and 
besides  providing  well-paid  employment  for  an 
increasing  number  of  her  workers  both  on  land 
and  on  sea. 

In  the  Katsura  summer  palace  garden,  a  chef 
d'oeuvre  of  Kobori  Enshu,  just  outside  Kyoto  to 
the  west,  the  artistic  value  of  a  junk  is  again  in 
evidence.  Protruding  from  the  side  of  the  palace 
balcony,  out  over  the  central  pond  is  a  narrow 


138    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

rectangular  bamboo  platform,  simulating  the  bow 
of  an  ancient  Chinese  junk.  From  this,  one  may 
view  the  lovely  garden  picture  spread  broad  and 
deep  before  him,  as  if,  aboard  the  vessel,  he  were 
slowly  forging  out  over  the  water.  The  pond's 
stillness  seems  to  rebuke  the  tinkling  waterfalls 
of  rivulets  struggling  down  to  the  Nirvana  of  its 
calm  repose.  At  a  pleasing  angle  there  runs  out 
diagonally  across  the  pond  a  long  and  graceful 
peninsula,  reminiscent  of  the  famous  one  at 
Amano-hashidate,  one  of  the  three  "great  sights" 
of  Japan.  Here  and  there  upon  rocky  hillocks 
perch  dainty  tea-houses,  each  affording  a  differ- 
ent outlook  on  this  morsel  of  man-made  nature. 
The  garden's  legend  is  that  of  an  old  Chinese 
poem,  well-known  to  all  literary  Orientals. 

There  are  over  nine  hundred  temples  in  Kyoto 
and  many  of  them  still  possess  gardens  made  for 
them  in  the  middle  ages.  One  might  continue 
his  rambles  through  them  indefinitely,  spelling 
out  the  thought  of  each  one  as  he  goes,  and  thus 
prolong  the  joys  which  a  visit  to  Kyoto  always 
means.  But  the  two  dozen  that  we  have  already 
visited  are  enough  to  reveal  how  highly  the  old 
Japanese  valued  thought,  and  the  dignified 
nature  setting  he  considered  best  suited  to  stimu- 
late the  thought  processes.  It  was  matter  ac- 
knowledging the  supremacy  of  mind,  but  at  the 


SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS    139 

same  time  aiding  it  to  its  best.  Each  of  us 
possesses  a  mental  picture  gallery  of  his  own. 
Dame  Fortune  enables  some  to  enrich  theirs  with 
memories  of  foreign  scenes  later  to  be  enjoyed 
in  leisure  hours  of  tranquil  retrospect  at  home. 
None  is  more  fortunate  than  he  who  has  thus 
hung  this  gallery  with  memories  of  certain  old 
Kyoto  gardens,  seated  before  which,  with  all  the 
world  shut  out,  he  may  of  an  evening  muse  upon 
the  beautiful  thought  there  transmuted  into 
things.  Robert  Browning  re-created  in  "Love 
among  the  ruins,"  from  a  mere  heap  of  stones, 
all  the  great  pulsating  activities  of  a  long  dead 
metropolis.  These  old  Kyoto  gardens  are  but 
mausolea  in  which  lie  enshrined  the  thought  of 
the  ages-old  Japanese*  culture  and  civilization. 
From  them,  if  sharing  Browning's  constructive 
spirit,  we  can  draw  forth  many  a  picture  of  the 
distant  past.  Yes,  but  what  of  the  present  and 
the  future?  Are  not  hints  of  their  possibilities 
yielded  to  such  a  thinking  people  by  the  frequent 
garden  waterfalls  spelling  water-power  for  mod- 
ern factories — and  also  from  the  old  stone  bridge 
under  the  Senten  Gosho's  wistaria — does  it  not 
suggest  the  Bridge  of  Boats  to  foreign  markets 
which  Japan's  ships  provide  for  her  factories' 
products  ?  Should  they  not  be  a  significant  warn- 
ing to  her  military  party?  For  she  has  a  strong 


140    SOME  OLD  KYOTO  GARDENS 

military  party,  lineal  descendants  of  the  doughty 
Kumagaye,  deeply  intrenched  in  her  political 
life, — strong  in  brains  of  the  type  that  rendered 
Ulysses  as  potent  in  peace  as  in  war ; — strong  in 
the  hearts  of  their  countrymen,  proud  of  the  ac- 
quisition of  Formosa,  of  Manchuria,  of  Korea  ;— 
strong  with  the  powerful  "yellow  press."  Will 
these  militaristic  politicians,  blind  to  the  fate  of 
Prussia,  persist  in  the  Prussian  path? — or  will 
they  moderate  their  ambitions,  and,  like  Kuma- 
gaye Naozane,  cast  the  sword  of  martial  ag- 
gression into  the  pool  at  the  heart  of  the  garden 
enshrining  the  wise  thought  of  ancient  Japan? 


CHAPTER   VI 

JAPANESE    PILGRIMS   AND   THEIR    PILGRIMAGES 

WRITERS  upon  the  great  war  frequently  al- 
leged that  one  of  the  chief  causes  for  Germany's 
defeat  was  the  inability  of  her  military  party  to 
understand  the  psychology  of  other  nations.  A 
striking  example  of  the  differences  between  the 
German  and  the  Allies'  points  of  view  found  ex- 
pression in  the  Kaiser's  conception  of  a  Nation- 
alistic Gott:  upon  this  we  differed  from  him 
widely,  and  perhaps  neither  really  understood 
the  other.  The  religion  of  a  people  is  so  basic  a 
fact  that  unless  foreigners  give  it  careful  con- 
sideration they  will  fail  to  reach  such  complete 
understanding  as  alone  affords  sure  foundation 
upon  which  to  shape  their  foreign  policy.  Upon 
nothing  are  the  Japanese  and  ourselves  so  far 
apart  as  upon  this  fundamental,  and  he  who 
would  seek  to  readjust  our  foreign  policy  in  the 
Far  East  so  that  it  shall  accord  with  existing 
conditions  and  therefore  lead  toward  practical 
results,  will  do  well  to  consider  tendencies  of 

141 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

religious  thought  to-day  evidenced  in  the  Island 
Kingdom. 

Religion  is,  as  one  Latin  derivation  indicates 
(religo,  I  tie  back) ,  an  attempt  to  tie  back  to  the 
Great  First  Cause,  an  effort  which  every  people 
in  the  world  evidences  in  its  forms  of  worship,  for 
none  is  without  worship.  All  races  have  every- 
where and  always  given  this  recognition  to  that 
fundamental  fact  of  Creation, — the  certain  ex- 
istence of  a  Creating  Force,  which  they  admit 
to  be  greater  for  good  or  evil  than  any  other  they 
know.  We  are  interested  in  power  around  the 
Pacific  Ocean — political  power,  of  course,  whose 
control  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  Japanese  and  the 
Anglo-Saxons  of  the  United  States,  Great  Brit- 
ain, Australia  and  Canada.  A  Divine  Power 
House  is  recognized  in  the  religions  of  all  of  them, 
so  we  must  give  consideration  to  the  religion 
of  the  Japanese — to  some  account  of  how  they 
are  attempting  to  connect  with  that  Great  Power 
House,  as  it  is  given  them  to  see  it.  And  at  the 
very  beginning  of  these  comments  upon  their 
religious  systems,  let  the  writer  go  on  record  as 
believing  that  although  the  Japanese  Way  is  not 
so  good  as  that  enjoyed  by  Christian  nations  of 
the  Occident,  nevertheless  Japan  of  to-day  is 
trying  harder,  both  by  ancestral  shrines  in  every 
home,  and  by  frequent  attendance  at  numerous 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  143 

temples  and  outdoor  shrines,  to  better  its  con- 
nection with  the  Divine  Power  House,  than  are 
smug  Christians  in  other  lands,  contented  with 
an  hour's  devotion  in  church  upon  one  day  in  the 
week,  if  indeed  so  much  time  as  that  be  given  to 
thought  of  the  things  spiritual  controlling  the 
material,  to  which  latter  our  lives  are  so  com- 
pletely devoted.  Going  west  across  the  Pacific, 
one  drops  a  day  out  of  his  calendar  upon  reach- 
ing the  180th  meridian  qf  longitude.  It  so 
happened  that  Sunday  was  the  day  we  lost,  and 
that  started  me  thinking  upon  what  would  be  left 
of  Christian  attendance  upon  divine  service  if 
Sunday  were  dropped  out  and  only  week-day  at- 
tendance be  counted.  We  have  fallen  far  below 
our  forefathers  in  interest  in  and  thought  upon 
matters  divine,  but  not  so  Japan,  for  there  the 
two  great  faiths  of  Shinto  and  Buddhism  are 
flourishing  as  never  before,  especially  the  former, 
their  indigenous  faith.  Even  Buddhism  is  put- 
ting on  new  attributes  by  adding  belief  in  an  in- 
dividual future  state  to  their  original  teachings 
from  India  via  China,  and  by  launching  out  into 
such  modern  manifestations  as  Sunday  schools, 
summer  schools,  young  men's  associations,  wom- 
en's societies,  street  preaching  and  deliberate 
missionary  effort  abroad. 

The  great  temple  of  Higashi  Hongwanji  in 


144-  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

Kyoto  was  built  in  1895  at  a  cost  of  four  million 
dollars.  To  raise  its  bulky  timbers  into  place 
twenty  huge  hawsers  were  needed,  and  to  make 
those  cables,  some  of  them  two  hundred  feet  long 
and  sixteen  inches  around,  thousands  of  women 
cut  off  their  hair  and  sent  it  to  Kyoto.  A  great 
coil  of  this  cable  still  remains  on  view  in  the 
temple,  a  mute  answer  to  those  who  allege  that 
modern  Japan  is  losing  interest  in  religion! 

Let  us  visit  some  of  their  holiest  places  and  see 
for  ourselves  how  the  religious  feeling  of  that  re- 
markable people  is  evidencing  itself.  In  the  year 
804,  the  then  Emperor  sent  two  very  wise  priests, 
Kobo  Daishi  and  Dengyo  Daishi,  to  study 
Buddhism  in  China,  so  that  they  might  bring 
home  the  best  of  its  teachings.  It  was  then  that 
the  Japanese  were  thirstily  absorbing  all  the  best 
that  Chinese  civilization  had  to  teach,  just  as 
recently,  during  the  last  half  century,  they  have 
seized  upon  everything  m'odern  worth  learning 
in  the  Occident.  They  are  great  learners,  the 
Japanese, — a  most  enriching  trait  for  a  people 
to  possess.  Dengyo  Daishi  came  home  after  one 
year  and  founded  the  Tendai  sect  of  Buddhism 
with  headquarters  on  Mount  Hiei,  close  by 
Kyoto,  the  home  of  the  Emperors.  But  that 
ampler  student,  Kobo  Daishi,  one  of  the  world's 
great  men,  and  founder  of  the  Shingon  sect,  after 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  145 

two  years  in  China,  sought  and  found  at  home 
a  retreat  far  from  the  seat  of  political  power,  a 
mountain  in  the  distant  province  of  Kii,  Koya 
San,  upon  whose  flattened  summit,  four  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  he  had  remarked  eight  hillocks, 
naturally  corresponding  to  the  eight  leaves  of  the 
sacred  lotus  (unfolded  to  the  student,  closed  to 
the  unenlightened)  and  to  the  eight  spokes  of  the 
Buddhist  Wheel  of  the  Law,  "upon  which  each 
human  is  bound  until  he  obtains  blessed  release." 
Here,  upon  this  secluded  mountain  retreat,  he 
established  a  monastery,  and  here  after  an 
abundantly  useful  life,  spent  in  writing,  teaching, 
painting,  sculpture,  road  building  and  spreading 
industrial  arts  in  many  parts  of  his  beloved 
country,  he  lies  buried,  so  here  is  the  holiest  spot 
in  all  Japan  for  those  who  believe  as  he  did,  and 
many  another  beside.  Mount  Koya  has  ever 
since  his  death  in  835  A.  D.  borne  his  monastery 
and  others  added  thereto,  and  around  about  his 
grave  has,  during  the  centuries,  grown  up  a  vast 
cemetery,  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Japan, 
where  lie  buried  hundreds  of  her  greatest  and 
best  beneath  the  shade  of  huge  cryptomeria  trees. 
To  appreciate  what  burial  in  this  sacred  spot 
means  to  a  Japanese,  one  should  have  prepared 
his  spirit  by  toiling  up  the  long  eight  mile  incline 
the  day  before  and  slept  within  the  solemn 


146  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

monastic  precincts  of  the  Shoj  o  Shin-in  or  Pure- 
hearted  Temple.  Then  rising  before  the  sun, 
take  respectful  part  in  the  daybreak  service  of 
the  monks,  and  thereafter  go  forth  in  the  fresh- 
ness of  the  new  day,  reverently  to  walk  through 
the  mile  and  a  half  of  age-softened  monuments 
under  the  shafts  of  light  piercing  down  through 
the  cryptomeria  foliage  as  they  do  through  the 
windows  of  an  ancient  cathedral.  Just  before 
the  tomb  of  the  sage  Kobo  Daishi  stands  the  Hall 
of  the  Ten  Thousand  Lights.  Here  burns  a 
lamp  which  he  lighted  and  which  during  all  the 
eleven  centuries  since  then  has  never  been  ex- 
tinguished. About  it  burn  hundreds  of  other 
lights  in  splendid  lanterns  given  by  great  men 
of  the  past  vastly  honored  by  the  privilege  of 
presenting  them  to  so  holy  a  place.  When  you 
have  thus  reached  the  tomb  of  this  great  and 
good  man,  with  spirit  prepared  by  the  reveren- 
tial manner  of  your  coming,  you  will  understand 
why  all  the  long  eight  miles  of  the  steep  tilted 
roadway  was,  and  always  is,  thronged  with 
pilgrims,  and  why  its  woodland  banks  were 
stuck  thick  with  millions  of  prayers  on  bits  of 
white  paper.  Here  you  are  very  close  to  the  heart 
of  old  Japan,  which  beats  as  strongly  under  its 
new  modernity  as  ever  it  did.  Upon  lofty  Koya 
San  the  ancient  spirit  of  Japan  is  lifted  up  into 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  147 

a  high  place,  and  the  thinking  and  observing 
foreigner  must  needs  be  lifted  up  along  with  it, 
and  join  in  the  elevation  of  the  place. 

There  are  many  religious  houses  here,  but  no 
inns  or  hostelries  for  the  public,  so  each  pilgrim 
must  lodge  in  one  of  these  homes  of  religious 
thought,  and  therefore  partake  of  the  spirit  there 
abiding.  And  that  spirit  cannot  but  be  renewed 
and  strengthened  by  this  constant  flowing  back 
to  the  heart  of  the  nation's  best  blood  purified 
by  the  religious  purpose  actuating  each  pilgrim's 
visit.  In  sundry  of  these  buildings  are  preserved 
art  treasures  accumulating  ever  since  the  days 
when  Kobo  Daishi,  the  great  founder,  brought 
thither  much  of  the  best  obtainable  in  the  then 
unrifled  China,  many  of  them  presents  from  the 
Chinese  Emperor  of  that  day.  After  the  privi- 
lege of  viewing  this  ancient  collection,  the  writer 
was  taken  to  the  Buddhist  Theological  College, 
where  he  faced  six  hundred  earnest  young 
students  devoting  their  lives  to  the  learning  and 
the  teaching  of  the  Way  as  Buddha  saw  it.  Here 
as  elsewhere  throughout  Japan  one  notices  that 
the  faces  of  the  priests  have  none  of  that  cunning 
slyness  which  the  word  priestcraft  has  come  to 
convey  to  the  modern  mind.  Serious,  thought- 
ful and  frank  is  the  expression  one  sees  upon  the 
countenance  of  Japanese  priesthood.  If  anyone 


148  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

tells  you  that  Buddhism  is  not  a  living  active  force 
in  the  Japan  of  to-day,  let  him;  visit  Koya  San, 
and  two  of  the  most  interesting  days  of  his  life 
will  ever  after  remind  him  of  the  pulsating  vigor 
of  faith  he  there  witnessed. 

The  traveller  will  remark  that  always  some- 
where about  the  enclosure  of  a  Japanese  Buddhist 
temple  there  will  be  a  Shinto  shrine,  so  blended 
have  these  two  faiths  become.  He  will  find  this 
true  at  that  great  pilgrimage  centre,  Nikko, 
where  stand  the  two  gorgeous  groups  of  mau- 
solea  entombing  the  mortal  remains  and  the  more 
than  mortal  memories  of  two  great  Shoguns  of 
the  Tokugawa  family,  lyeyasu  and  lyemitsu. 
If  the  traveller  is  minded  to  indulge  himself  in 
the  fullest  aesthetic  preparation  for  the  treat  to 
the  senses  which  Nikko  affords,  then  let  him 
desert  that  modern  convenience,  the  railway  train, 
twenty-five  miles  before  reaching  the  town.  Here 
begins  the  splendid  avenue  of  tall  cryptomeria 
trees,  planted  over  three  hundred  years  ago  to 
guide  the  pilgrim  to  the  shrines.  Up  through 
these  impressive  rows  of  silent  guardians  of 
memory  one  proceeds,  as-  for  centuries  countless 
feet  of  pilgrims  have  trod.  At  last,  passing 
through  the  small  town  you  come  to  the  mountain 
torrent,  lashing  its  way  down  from  the  everlast- 
ing hills  above,  but  crossed  by  the  sacred  bridge 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  149 

of  red  lacquer,  whose  origin  is  lost  in  ancient 
mythology.  It  and  its  woodland  background 
find  frequent  echo  in  many  a  copy  throughout 
the  land.  And  above,  on  the  slopes  of  the  pine 
clad  hillside  await  you  two  great  series  of  build- 
ings, stationed  upon  terrace  above  terrace,  the 
better  to  display  their  gorgeous  color  and  detail 
of  carving  that  grow  ever  more  bewilderingly 
entrancing  until  each  culminates  at  the  top  in  its 
Honden,  or  Holy  of  Holies.  One  is  in  charge 
of  a  Buddhist  Abbot  and  the  other  of  a  Shinto 
one,  so  an  even  balance  between  those  faiths  is 
here  observed.  The  mausolea  of  lyeyasu  are 
somewhat  the  finer  of  the  two,  and  here  Shinto 
prevails,  but  those  of  lyemitsu,  with  their  Bud- 
dhist ritual,  are  almost  equally  fascinating  and 
surprising.  Here  we  have  flat  color  in  its  great- 
est glory,  enhanced  by  gilding  and  carving  in 
profusion,  giving  the-  sparkling  effect  one  expects 
from  jewels.  It  is  flat  color's  nearest  approach 
anywhere  in  the  world  to  the  brilliance  of  that 
light-pierced  glory  which  stained  glass  alone 
enjoys.  Not  the  sombre  glitter  of  the  glass  at 
Chartres  or  in  the  Lower  Church  at  Assisi,  nor 
yet  the  quiet  glow  seen  at  Gloucester  Cathedral  or 
Fairford  Church  in 'England,  or  Conches  in  Nor- 
mandy, or  that  so  frequent  in  Troyes  or  Rouen, 
but  rather  the  brilliancy  of  Arezzo  or  Erfurt. 


150  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

We  spent  two  weeks  at  Nikko,  and  always,  dur- 
ing our  long  visits  to  the  temples  at  all  hours  of 
the  day,  there  came  mounting  ever  the  uninter- 
rupted stream  of  pilgrims  in  large  or  small  bands 
or  singly, — devout,  serious  and  deeply  interested 
in  their  purpose.  Service  after  service  was  per- 
formed for  them,  with  always  more  waiting  to 
fill  their  places  at  the  next  one.  We  were  privi- 
leged to  visit  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  lyeyasu 
shrine  and  within  its  gloomi  saw  hidden  away 
art  treasures  of  sculpture  and  painting  whose 
hues,  undimmed  through  long  years,  show  a 
brilliance  no  where  else  surpassed. 

As  at  the  two  mausolea  of  Nikko,  so  in  Kyoto, 
the  Rome  of  Japan,  with  its  more  than  nine 
hundred  temples  and  shrines,  Buddhism  and 
Shinto  go  hand  in  hand,  both  commanding  that 
same  devotion  which  strikes  the  traveller  inces- 
santly throughout  the  land.  So  great  is  the 
contrast  between  the  brilliant  hues  of  Nikko  and 
the  quieter  beauty  of  Kyoto  with  its  lower  tones 
and  charm  of  form  rather  than  of  color,  that  one 
should  visit  the  latter  first,  lest  the  gorgeousness 
of  the  former  jade  your  palate  for  the  less  highly 
spiced  delights  of  the  latter.  The  Japanese  have 
a  proverb  "Never  say  'splendid'  until  after  seeing 
Nikko,"  and  they  are  quite  right,  so  see  it  last, 
unless  your  Kyoto  stay  can  be  long  enough  to 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  151 

acclimatize  your  aesthetic  perceptions  to  its  lower 
altitudes.  Nikko  is  a  small  Venice  or  Florence, 
brilliant,  vibrant,  entrancing, — but  Kyoto  is  a 
prototype  of  great,  quietly  compelling  Rome. 

Before  leaving  Buddhism  with  its  many  sects 
and  turning  to  Shinto,  reference  must  be  made 
to  the  great  bronze  statue  of  Buddha,  erected  at 
Kamakura  in  1252  and  called  the  Daibutsu. 
Although  seated,  it  is  over  49  feet  tall,  which  is 
exceeded  by  the  still  larger  Buddha  at  Nara, 
dating  from  749,  and  53%  feet  in  height.  The 
Nara  Buddha  has  nothing  to  commend  it  but 
antiquity  and  size.  How  different  is  the  Dai- 
butsu at  Kamakura!  Anyone  who  has  looked 
upon  that  countenance  of  calm  meditation, 
accentuated  by  the  thoughtful  poise  of  its  head 
and  shoulders,  has  received  a  sensation,  a  con- 
vincing impression,  which  will  stay  with  him 
throughout  life.  Nowhere  has  human  genius  so 
successfully  depicted  thought  by  matter.  As  you 
look  up  at  the  Meditating  One,  not  only  do  you 
actually  feel  the  thought  there  incarnate,  but  also 
do  you  realize  that  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  power- 
ful and  a  healing  thought — thinking  for  others 
by  one  who,  as  their  holy  writings  declare,  vowed 
that  "perfect  bliss  He  would  not  have  till  He 
knew  that  all  who  would  invoke  Him  might  be 
saved."  Those  who  have  been  privileged  to  look 


152  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

upon  this,  one  of  the  world's  most  expressive 
monuments,  will  readily  understand  the  numbers 
of  the  pilgrims  that  continually  throng  thither 
seeking  the  inspiration  of  this  great  thinking 
beneficence. 

But  the  most  popular  faith  of  all  to  the  Japa- 
nese is  the  only  one  which  is  really  indigenous, 
Shinto.  It  has  thirteen  recognized  sects,  but  its 
chief  division  is  into  State  Shinto  under  the 
Government's  Bureau  of  Shrines,  and  Popular 
Shinto,  which,  like  Buddhism  and  Christianity 
is  supervised  by  the  Bureau  of  Religions.  Con- 
fucianism, although  it  has  quite  a  following,  is 
among  the  Japanese  considered  merely  an  ad- 
mirable code  of  ethics.  Shinto  was  originally  a 
form  of  nature  worship,  to  which  there  was  later 
added  the  worship  of  a  long  series  of  deified  men. 
Unlike  Buddhism  with  its  many  saints,  Pure 
Shinto  has  no  images,  and  within  the  holiest  part 
of  its  shrines  one  sees  nothing  but  a  mirror.  This 
mirror  is  not  worshipped,  but  is  "typical  of  the 
human  heart  which  in  its  purity  reflects  the  image 
of  Deity,"  so  the  worshippers  bow  before  it  in 
self-examination.  According  to  the  official  rec- 
ords this  faith  has  over  200,000  shrines,  and  yet 
it  is  not  really  a  religion,  and  is  without  a  creed. 
Its  main  service  is  to  foster  patriotism  by  main- 
taining shrines  for  the  worship  of  the  Imperial 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  153 

ancestors  and  of  men  who  have  notably  served 
the  nation  during  their  lives.  This  is  the  Japa- 
nese point  of  view,  but  to  the  foreign  observer  its 
great  value  seems  to  be  its  insistence  upon 
personal  cleanliness  and  simplicity  of  life.  It  is 
the  cause  of  the  Japanese  being  the  cleanest 
people  in  the  world ;  think  of  a  land  where  even 
the  poorest  coolie  takes  a  hot  bath  every  day !  In 
these  days  of  extravagance  the  world  over,  and 
that  too  in  spite  of  our  international  enemy, 
High  Cost  of  Living,  what  a  national  asset  is  a 
faith  like  Shinto,  which  commends  and  requires 
simplicity  of  life! 

The  greatest  of  all  the  Shinto  shrines  are 
those  of  Ise  at  Yamada,  and  yet  nothing  could 
be  simpler  than  the  purity  of  their  architectural 
lines  or  the  unpainted  wood  of  their  construc- 
tion. An  account  of  one  of  the  ceremonials 
there  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  how 
stringent  are  the  Shinto  rules  regarding  clean- 
liness. Sea  salt  is  much  used  for  purification  at 
their  shrines,  and  that  needed  for  those  of  Ise  is 
procured  in  the  following  manner :  Certain  fish- 
ermen are  selected  and  are  made  ready  for  their 
sacred  task  by  cleanly  living  and  by  bathing. 
The  last  day  of  the  old  year  they  are  dressed  in 
new  white  cotton  garments  and  are  provided  with 
a  clean  new  boat,  all  of  whose  fittings,  sails,  oars, 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

etc.,  are  equally  new,  and  thus  equipped,  they 
put  out  to  sea  after  nightfall  to  await  the  dawn 
of  the  new  year.  When  the  first  rays  of  the  sun 
appear  above  the  ocean  horizon,  the  fishermen 
begin  to  dip  up  the  salt  water  with  which  to  fill 
the  carefully  purified  tank  on  their  vessel.  This 
boatload  is  brought  back  to  the  land  where,  upon 
a  sandy  beach  beneath  wind  swept  pine  trees,  the 
water  is  boiled  until  nothing  remains  but  its  salt. 
Fire  is  purifying,  but  that  used  for  this  ceremony 
must  be  essentially  so,  so  neither  coal  nor  wood 
are  used,  but  only  new  rice  hay  and  clean  pine- 
needles.  Then  there  is  built  on  the  beach  beneath 
the  protecting  pines  a  shelter  for  this  salt,  where 
under  a  roof  thatched  with  clean  new  rice  straw, 
it  is  kept  pure  by  the  winds  of  heaven  until  from 
time  to  time  it  shall  be  required  in  some  ceremo- 
nial. When  it  is  used  the  officiating  priest  must 
tie  a  clean  white  cloth  across  his  mouth  lest  the 
human  breath  pollute  this  super-cleansed  salt. 
Nor  must  he  in  any  ceremony  blow  out  any  light, 
for  fire  is  purity  and  his  breath  is  not.  Every 
Shinto  temple  and  shrine  must  be  pulled  down 
and  rebuilt  every  twenty  years,  thus  ensuring 
cleanliness  and  also  removing  temptation  to 
over-expenditure  in  their  construction. 

Because  Shinto  is  so  greatly  concerned  with 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  155 

reverence  for  the  Imperial  ancestors  and  the 
support  of  a  dynasty  which  has  uninterruptedly 
occupied  the  throne  for  over  twenty-five  centu- 
ries, it  seems  to  me  that  its  essence  is  best  seen 
and  felt  during  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  the  late 
Mikado,  one  of  the  greatest  of  his  line,  at 
Momoyama,  outside  Kyoto.  That  visit  was  for 
me  one  of  the  most  impressive  experiences  of  my 
life.  Momoyama  symbolizes  magnificent  sim- 
plicity. Permission  for  the  visit  was  accorded  by 
the  Minister  of  the  Imperial  Household.  The 
grounds  are  extensive  and  lie  upon  the  gentle 
slope  of  a  hill,  and  their  only  decoration  is  pine 
trees  among  which  run  heavily  gravelled  paths. 
My  wife,  little  son  and  I  were  met  by  a  guardian 
who  conducted  us  first  to  the  official  register 
where  each  must  set  down  his  name,  etc.  Then, 
having  been  joined  by  two  attendants,  he  led  us 
toward  the  wide  enclosure  which  separates  the 
tomb  from  the  public  who  daily  throng  here  to 
offer  homage.  Just  outside  the  enclosure  we 
were  stopped  before  a  large  stone  basin,  where 
with  a  new  wooden  ladle,  water  was  dipped  for 
us  to  wash  our  hands  and  mouths,  which  we  dried 
on  paper  napkins,  later  handed  to  the  attendants 
to  be  destroyed.  Then  we  were  taken  into  and 
across  the  enclosure  to  a  gate  on  the  opposite 
side,  over  which  was  a  Pure  Shinto  torii,  known 


156  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

by  its  horizontal  bars,  severely  straight  and  not 
slightly  upturned  at  the  ends  as  are  those  of 
Mixed  Shinto  torii.  The  gate  was  opened  and 
disclosed  a  stone  pathway  about  a  hundred  yards 
long  leading  up  to  the  tomb.  At  the  pathway's 
end,  on  a  small  easel  of  green  bamboo  rods,  stood 
the  wreath  we  had  brought  and  which  had  been 
taken  from  us  on  our  arrival.  Between  the  gate- 
way and  the  tomb,  equal  distances  apart,  were 
laid  upon  the  pathway  straw  prayer  mats,  and 
by  each  a  label  in  Japanese  indicating  the  rank 
of  those  by  whom  they  were  to  be  used.  We  were 
honored  by  being  escorted  to  the  third  or  furthest 
one,  reserved  for  those  who  are  or  were  of 
ambassadorial  rank.  Then  the  guardians  with- 
drew. And  the  tomb!  what  does  the  reader 
imagine  concerning  the  magnificence  of  the  final 
resting  place  of  one  whose  people  during  his  long 
and  beneficent  reign  emerged  from  medievalism 
and  advanced  to  such  grasp  of  modernity  as  to 
become  one  of  the  great  powers  instead  of  a  her- 
mit kingdom.  The  tomb  is  but  a  simple  mound 
of  small  round  stones; — but  such  a  mound  and 
of  such  simplicity! — three  million  stones  in  one 
great  heap,  whose  gracefully  curved  outline  is 
broken  once  to  avoid  monotony  of  design.  These 
stones  were  selected  with  the  greatest  care,  each 
being  passed  through  the  same  bamboo  ring  to 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  157 

ensure  uniform!  size.  Could  anything  be  more 
simple  in  its  taste,  and  yet  where  is  there  a  monu- 
ment more  impressive  ?  According  to  custom,  we 
retired  backward,  and  after  leaving  the  enclosure 
were  taken  a  few  hundred  yards  further  on  to 
where  the  Empress  lies  buried  beneath  a  similar 
but  much  smaller  mound.  Lower  down  the  hill 
in  this  same  park,  there  also  lies  buried  that  fine 
old  veteran,  General  Nogi,  the  conqueror  of  Port 
Arthur  in  the  Russian  War.  So  grief-stricken 
was  he  by  the  death  of  his  beloved  master,  the 
Emperor,  that  the  night  of  the  Imperial  funeral, 
he  and  his  aged  wife,  after  ceremonial  prepara- 
tion, committed  suicide  by  hara-kiri,  so  here  they 
both  lie,  below  the  Imperial  tombs,  guarding  as 
faithfully  after  death,  as  in  life  the  great  Gen- 
eral had  served.  This  act  was  an  evidence  of 
wh$,t  the  Japanese  call  Chugi  or  loyalty,  and  be- 
cause this  is  one  of  the  fundamental  tenets  of 
Shinto,  Buddhism  and  Confucianism  alike,  it  is 
taught  every  Japanese  from  boyhood,  and  is  the 
great  outstanding  feature  of  the  nation's  faith. 

The  shrine  at  which  more  incense  is  burnt  than 
any  other  in  the  land  is  that  in  the  outskirts  of 
Tokyo,  dedicated  to  the  Forty-seven  Ronins. 
The  chauffeur  of  our  motor  had  told  me  much  of 
his  conversion  to  Christianity,  and  of  his  atten- 
dance upon  Methodist  church,  Sunday  school  and 


158  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

night  school,  but  I  noticed  that  when  he  thought 
himself  unobserved,  he  quietly  bought  a  bundle 
of  joss  sticks  and  set  them  afire  before  the  tomb 
of  the  Master  of  the  Ronins.  The  daimyo  whom 
these  brave  fellows  served  had  been  treacherously 
done  to  death  by  a  rival  daimyo,  so  these  loyal 
retainers  swore  to  avenge  him.  This  became 
known,  and  as  a  result,  so  many  precautions 
were  taken  that  it  long  seemed  impossible  for 
them  to  reach  their  intended  victim.  They  had 
to  resort  to  all  sorts  of  extreme  measures  to  allay 
suspicions  of  their  purpose  and  thus  make  pos- 
sible its  achievement.  Their  leader  took  to  a 
dissolute  life,  put  away  his  wife  and  seemingly 
sunk  to  the  gutter.  At  last,  so  unworthy  and 
negligible  had  they  become  that  vigilance  was 
relaxed,  and  then  they  struck!  They  cut  off 
their  victim's  head,  washed  it  in  a  well  and  of- 
fered it  at  the  tomb  of  the  master  to  whom  they 
had  been  so  loyal.  This  done,  they  gave  them- 
selves up  to  the  authorities,  and  all  at  the  same 
time  committed  suicide  by  hara-kiri  to  expiate 
their  criminal  act.  Their  ancient  story,  ever 
new,  is  early  told  every  Japanese  child,  and 
continues  a  vigorous  inspiration  to  the  national 
spirit  of  loyalty. 

It  is  appropriate  that  we  close  these  comments 
upon  Japanese  faith  by  reference  to  its  most 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  159 

intimate  feature,  the  ancestral  shrines  in  the 
homes.  In  Buddhist  families  they  are  to  be  found 
in  the  living  room  of  the  house,  but  in  the  Shinto 
ones  generally  in  the  kitchen,  which  should  be 
the  cleanest  part  of  all  indoors.  Before  these 
shrines  are  set  flowers  or  offerings  of  food,  and 
here  is  celebrated  respectful  adoration  of  one's 
forebears.  A  Japanese  does  not  know  a  mono- 
theistic God  as  we  do.  He  worships  forces  of 
nature,  or  deified  human  beings,  and  among 
these,  of  course,  his  own  progenitors.  A  home 
with  some  kind  of  daily  worship  is  better  than  one 
without  any.  There  is  no  denying,  even  among 
its  severest  critics,  that  ancestor  worship  thus 
brings  into  every  home  a  daily  reminder  of  things 
spiritual,  a  constant  touch  with  that  beyond  the 
veil,  on  the  hither  side  of  which  are  the  material 
things  cognized  by  the  senses.  Henry  Adams, 
in  his  remarkable  autobiography  called  "The 
Education  of  Henry  Adams,"  devotes  a  chapter 
to  proving  that  the  world's  history  should  be 
divided  into  only  two  epochs,  that  before  and 
that  after  1893,  when  the  discovery  of  the  X-ray 
and  of  radio-activity  revealed  the  existence  of 
the  Fourth  Dimension  of  things  and  facts  be- 
yond the  ken  of  the  five  senses — a  supersensual 
world.  The  ancestral  shrines  in  every  Japanese 
home  have  long  been  constant  reminders  of  this 


160  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

fact  to  that  medley  of  spiritual  enlightenment 
and  obtuseness,  the  Japanese  people. 

If  the  ability  to  move  bodies  through  space  is 
a  satisfying  evidence  of  power,  then  the  pilgrim- 
ages of  the  Japanese  show  amazing  strength  in 
their  religious  faiths.  Nothing  like  them  has  been 
seen  since  the  famous  pilgrimages  of  the  middle 
ages  in  Europe,  when  we  read  of  a  hundred 
thousand  pilgrims  visiting  Canterbury  on  the 
same  day,  or  of  overcrowding  at  other  holy  places 
by  men  from  near  and  far  seeking  salvation. 
Indeed,  the  figures  of  these  Japanese  pilgrimages 
exceed  anything  which  the  history  of  any  age 
records  of  such  acts  of  faith.  On  New  Year's 
Day,  1920,  over  300,000  devotees  repaired  for 
worship  to  the  Kawasaki  Daishi  shrine  just  out- 
side Tokyo.  Nor  are  these  pilgrimages  restricted 
to  any  one  day  in  the  year.  A  leading  American 
missionary  who  has  lived  in  Japan  more  than 
thirty  years  told  me  that  so  full  and  constant  was 
the  stream  of  pilgrims  daily  visiting  the  Kompira 
shrine  at  Kotohira  on  the  lovely  Inland  Sea,  that 
their  annual  total  exceeded  three  million.  Almost 
as  great  is  the  attendance  at  that  most  ancient 
fane  of  Izumo-no  O-yashiro  at  Kizuki,  whose 
Chief  Priest  is  said  to  be  the  82nd  in  his  dynasty 
of  pontiffs.  Another  American  missionary  who 
had  lived  two  years  near  the  greatly  venerated 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  161 

Ise  shrines  at  Yamada  said  that  the  railway  trains 
used  to  bring  thither  ten  thousand  worshippers 
a  day.  The  steep  and  long  road  to  the  4000  feet 
elevation  of  Koya  San's  summit  is  as  crowded  as 
a  city  street  all  day  and  every  day,  an  ever  com- 
ing and  going  throng  of  devout,  earnest  faces, 
laboriously  toiling  upward  regardless  of  ad- 
vanced age  or  physical  infirmity,  or  descending 
with  the  contented  sense  of  religious  accomplish- 
ment. Every  mountain  has  a  shrine  at  its  top, 
so  up  every  mountain  climb  devout  men,  demon- 
strating by  that  effort  their  acknowledgement  of 
the  ascendency  belonging  to* the  spiritual  over  the 
material.  After  witnessing  such  constant  and 
ample  exhibitions  of  belief  in  that  beyond  the  ken 
of  our  physical  senses,  the  American  traveller 
cannot  but  feel  that  the  Japanese  as  a  nation 
show  a  higher  appreciation  than  do  we  of  the 
great  fact  that  this  life  is  but  a  preparatory 
school  for  another  one  beyond. 

My  conclusions  are  that  the  Japanese,  with 
religious  faith  less  helpful  than  Christianity,  are 
making  better  and  more  constant  use  of  their  out- 
look upon  spirituality  than  are  we  of  ours.  And 
meanwhile,  what  are  they  thinking  of  our  Chris- 
tianity? They  are  shrewd  observers  and  there- 
fore we  may  learn  something  useful  by  consider- 
ing their  point  of  view.  We  went  to  see  Amano- 


162  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

Hashidate,  that  beautiful  freak  of  nature,  where 
across  a  lake  (really  an  estuary)  surrounded  by 
hills,  runs  diagonally  a  narrow  causeway  of  sand 
shaded  by  pine  trees.  We  were  accompanied  by 
a  highly  intelligent  Japanese  gentleman,  espe- 
cially learned  in  Buddhist  and  Shinto  lore,  and 
with  him  talked  for  the  better  part  of  two  days 
upon  those  subjects,  and  especially  of  his  con- 
clusions concerning  Christianity.  From  him  and 
from  other  thoughtful  Japanese  came  surprising 
comments  upon  our  religions.  "You  call  our 
Buddhism  idolatrous,"  say  they.  "Perhaps  it  is 
among  the  poorly  educated,  who  cannot  grasp 
its  higher  philosophy,  but  in  many  of  your 
churches,  especially  in  Europe,  we  not  only  see 
as  many  or  more  images,  but  we  find  that  the 
people  pray  to  these  saints,  as  you  call  them,  and 
not  directly  to  the  Great  Creator,  just  as  our 
people  do.  We  see  votive  tablets  in  many  Euro- 
pean churches  thanking  certain  saints  for  suc- 
cessful passing  of  school  examinations  and  other 
favors,  just  as  among  us.  Furthermore,  partic- 
ularly in  the  Latin  countries  of  Europe,  your 
saintly  images  are  more  frequently  borne  in  out- 
door processions  through  the  streets  than  are  ours 
in  Japan.  As  for  your  Protestant  Christianity, 
strongest  in  the  United  States,  the  slackness  of 
its  worship  makes  it  seem  to  us  to  approximate 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  163 

our  Confucianism,  to  have  degenerated  into  a 
mere  code  of  ethics, — nothing  but  rules  for  good 
behavior." 

Many  of  these  Japanese  know  our  Scrip- 
tures, and  they  seem  struck  with  the  fact  that 
while  the  Gospels  record  that  Christ  healed 
nearly  three  times  oftener  than  he  preached,  and 
also  taught  his  disciples  spiritually  to  efface  dis- 
ease and  even  death,  modern  Christianity  is  so 
stripped  of  spirituality  that  both  in  its  teachings 
and  practice  it  ignores  His  lessons  of  healing, 
and  uses  materia  medica,  which  He  and  His  never 
did.  "Why  do  you  call  our  religions  unspirit- 
ual,"  said  these  Japanese,  "when  you  have  delib- 
erately turned  your  back  on  the  chief  spiritual 
manifestation  of  your  Master's  life?  You  are 
altruistic  and  charitable,  which  is  mere  Confu- 
cianism;— but  spiritual  in  the  sense  of  the  Gos- 
pel's and  of  Paul's  teachings  and  acts  of  spirit- 
ual understanding  controlling  things  material 
you  certainly  are  not,  and  that  too  of  your 
own  deliberate  choosing."  Are  they  right  or 
are  they  not?  Is  or  is  not  our  modern  Chris- 
tianity denatured  of  its  spiritual  understanding 
of  the  world  as  it  is  instead  of  as  it  seems  to 
be?  Are  or  are  we  not  content  to  remain  in 
snug  (or  smug!)  harbor,  sheltered  behind  the 
breakwaters  of  the  five  senses,  reluctant  to 


164  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

fare  forth  upon  the  ocean  of  the  Fourth  Dimen- 
sion, as  becomes  those  living  in  what  Henry 
Adams  styled  the  Supersensual  epoch?  If  he  is 
right,  are  we  keeping  abreast  of  our  own  times? 
Perhaps  a  stay  of  some  months  in  Japan  may 
arouse  thoughts  tending  to  better  the  Christianity 
of  a  man  who  goes  there  as  a  student,  and  not  as 
one  boastful  of  western  civilization.  Why  is  not 
Christianity  succeeding  there  better  than  it  is? 
The  Japanese  are  quick  to  recognize  and  acquire 
factors  of  strength  in  our  civilization — isn't  our 
religious  faith  strong  enough  to  attract  them? — 
is  it  as  powerful  as  it  used  to  be  when  it  started 
in  the  Orient?  Why  is  it  that  a  religion  owing 
its  origin  to  a  Teacher  born  amid  an  Oriental 
people  has  been  taken  over  and  organized  by 
Occidentals  who  have  so  remodelled  it  that  it  does 
not  now  succeed  with  the  very  races  among  which 
it  was  born?  Has  it  been  so  over-organized  by 
the  materialistic  Occidental  that  it  cannot  appeal 
to  the  more  spiritual  Oriental?  The  latter's  ad- 
mission of  the  superiority  of  mind  over  matter 
prepares  him  to  accept  the  teachings  of  Him  who 
healed  by  spirit  and  not  by  material  means. 
What  is  wrong?  Have  we  removed  the  very 
feature  of  Christianity  that  would  have  recom- 
mended it  to  the  Oriental?  Have  we  too  closely 
followed  Constantine  and  made  our  church 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  165 

material  instead  of  spiritual,  just  as  he  did  by 
stopping  its  persecutions,  and  making  it  the 
fashion?  He  substituted  an  established  Church, 
with  all  that  means  of  material  power,  for  the 
spiritual  power  it  owed  to  the  blood  of  its  early 
martyrs; — are  we  doing  the  same? 

Occidentals  say  that  the  Japanese  have  too 
much  conceit,  not  only  about  their  land,  but  also 
its  customs,  religions,  and  government.  Don't 
we  need  a  little  more  conceit  of  the  right  sort — 
of  that  higher  type  which  spells  loyalty,  so  vital 
a  factor  in  Japanese  life — outspoken  loyalty  to 
our  real  selves,  to  God  as  he  truly  is,  to  govern- 
ment as  it  should  be  conducted?  And  loyalty 
must  be  learned  in  small  things  before  it  can  be 
practised  in  the  greater  ones — it  should  begin  at 
home,  as  charity  does  and  as  it  does  in  Japan.  At 
Yale,  our  best  song  runs,  "For  God,  For  Country 
and  For  Yale,"  and  we  learned  its  meaning  by 
an  intense  class  loyalty  which  served  as  a  foun- 
dation for  loyalty  to  university,  which,  in  turn, 
taught  the  higher  one  to  country,  and  the  highest 
of  all,  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  "A 
narrow  beginning"  you  say? — and  best  so.  I 
know  Yale  is  better  than  Harvard,  but  have  no 
respect  for  a  Harvard  man  who  agrees  thereon. 
If  that  is  narrow,  then  long  live  that  sort  of  honest 
narrowness!  Let  us  be  frankly  partisan  in  our 


166  JAPANESE    PILGRIMS 

additions,  but  judicial  in  our  divisions,  and 
Christian  in  our  subtractions  from  what  those 
additions  and  divisions  have  gained  us.  The  Jap- 
anese is  right  in  his  intense  loyalty  to  his  land  and 
its  institutions.  Let  us  be  equally  partisan  in  our 
preparedness,  military  and  otherwise,  to  resist 
aggression  from  without,  because  this  makes  for 
national  self-respect,  without  which  no  people  can 
endure.  Let  us  be  judicial  in  our  application  of 
that  preparedness  to  external  problems,  and  then, 
best  of  all,  be  Christian  in  the  day  of  victory,  as 
we  have  recently  been. 

A  Far  Eastern  policy,  carefully  thought  out 
along  such  lines,  will  endure  and  prosper. 

Japan  is  showing  wider  participation  by  in- 
dividuals in  her  national  faiths  than  we  in  ours; 
theirs  must  be  yielding  them  returns  or  their 
participation  would  not  persist  and  grow.  And 
yet  it  lacks  altruism  as  we  understand  the  word. 
They  are  kindly  each  to  the  other  and  also  to  out- 
siders, but  their  faith  is  an  individualistic  seek- 
ing for  betterment  and  it  demands  results.  Es- 
pecially is  this  true  when  that  faith  expresses 
itself  nationally.  They  cannot  understand  how 
the  United  States,  after  sustaining  over  400,000 
casualties  (about  their  own  total  in  the  Russian 
war)  and  expending  31  billion  dollars,  neither 
demanded  nor  received  in  the  day  of  victory  any 


JAPANESE    PILGRIMS  167 

financial  or  territorial  recompense  whatever. 
And  yet,  to  our  way  of  thinking,  educated  for 
generations  in  Christianity,  this  national  policy 
of  ours  was  but  natural.  It  is  from  acts  charac- 
terized by  such  spirit  that  a  nation  gains  its  great- 
est power.  A  people  that  spontaneously  and 
unanimously  acts  thus  in  a  great  national  crisis 
surely  may  be  said  to  possess  a  soul  less  material 
than  that  of  those  interested  in  the  spoils  of 
victory;  it  can  be  trusted  in  the  formulation 
of  its  foreign  policy.  And  the  less  material  a 
nation's  soul  the  closer  is  its  connection  with  the 
Great  Power  House,  our  complete  allegiance  to 
which  is  acknowledged  by  our  Declaration  of 
Independence. 


CHAPTER   VII 

SHANTUNG  AND  KOREA  VERSUS  THE  WHITE  PERIL 

THAT  extraordinary  Venetian,  Marco  Polo, 
who  returned  home  from  "Far  Cathay"  in  1292 
after  a  sojourn  there  of  nearly  two  decades, 
amazed  Europe  for  many  a  long  day  by  his  ac- 
count of  the  wonders  of  the  Far  East.  His 
alluring  statements  concerning  Zipangu,  later 
called  Japan,  were  destined  to  produce  striking 
results.  Marco  Polo  died  in  1324,  and  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  afterward,  one  of  his  read- 
ers, also  an  Italian,  inspired  by  his  narrative  and 
by  other  stories  to  win  sight  of  glorious  Zipangu, 
resolutely  set  his  face  against  all  accepted  geo- 
graphical beliefs  and  sailed  for  the  fabled  island 
in  a  westward  direction  instead  of  following  the 
eastward  path  of  the  earlier  adventurer.  This 
later  Italian  (his  name  was  Christopher  Colum- 
bus) by  his  epoch-making  voyage  toward  Zi- 
pangu transformed  the  earth  from  a  flat  plain 
into  a  globe.  He  did  more — his  addition  of  the 
two-  new  continents  to  the  known  world  led  the 
way  to  the  white  man's  overrunning  the  earth. 

168 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  169 

Columbus  died  ignorant  that  he  had  discovered 
a  new  hemisphere,  but  believing  he  had  found 
lands  near  to  the  Zipangu  he  so  earnestly  longed 
to  see.  Never  since  his  successful  venture  has  the 
relentless  expansion  of  the  white  man's  dominion 
ceased.  Nor  has  he  been  contented  to  expand 
until  his  flags  covered  not  only  the  two  American 
continents,  but  also  those  of  Africa  and  Aus- 
tralia, as  well  as  most  of  the  "isles  of  the  seas." 
Equally  persistent  has  been  his  enthusiasm  for  ac- 
quiring Asian  territory.  Russia  pushed  steadily 
across  its  northern  half  until  the  Pacific  Ocean 
alone  checked  her  eastward  march,  and  then  turn- 
ing southeasterly  she  swung  downward  through 
Manchuria  until  she  reached  the  Gulf  of  Chihli 
and  the  Yellow  Sea,  and  was  firmly  seated  at 
Port  Arthur,  which  she  turned  into  the  Gibraltar 
of  the  East.  Meanwhile  in  southern  Asia,  Eng- 
land had  taken  all  the  great  territories  of  India, 
and  then,  for  elbow  room,  had  spread  west  and 
east  and  northeast,  reaching  out  along  the  Malay 
Straits,  Singapore  way,  and  over  the  lofty 
Himalayas  into  Thibet.  East  of  her  France 
took  a  huge  piece  of  China, — Tonkin,  with  its 
eighty  millions  of  Chinese  inhabitants.  The 
English,  by  formal  notice,  warned  all  other 
powers  out  of  that  central  and  best  portion  of 
China  loosely  called  the  Yangtse  Valley.  The 


170  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

French  issued  a  similar  tabu  notice  covering  all 
Chinese  territory  south  of  the  Yangtse  Valley. 
The  Russians  took  even  stronger  steps  through- 
out Manchuria  and  Mongolia,  so  that  when  the 
Germans  raised  their  standard  over  Shantung, 
the  white  races  had  omitted  little  of  Asia  except 
the  province  of  Chihli,  around  Peking,  in  which 
city  their  armed  Legation  guards  dominated 
that  neighborhood. 

Now  let  us  suppose  the  reader  to  be  an  inter- 
ested Japanese  geographer,  wonderingly  observ- 
ing these  advancing  waves  of  the  White  Peril, 
ever  approaching  nearer  and  nearer  to  his  island 
home  off  the  Asian  coast.  Assume  that,  being 
such  an  observer,  he  is  as  patriotic  and  intelli- 
gent as  the  average  American  would  be  under 
similar  circumstances.  What  would  he  think? — • 
silently  at  first,  until  such  time  as  his  growing 
exasperation  made  him  burst  into  action  at  see- 
ing these  white  men  from  far-off  Europe,  not 
content  with  annexing  all  the  rest  of  the  world, 
finally  engaged  in  absorbing  the  nearby  lands  of 
his  (the  Japanese's)  neighbor  and  fellow  Ori- 
ental, China.  Of  all  these  Occidental  invaders 
of  your  neighbor  (for  remember,  gentle  reader, 
you  are  Japanese  for  the  while)  not  one  has  a 
crowded  homeland  like  yours,  needing  more 
territory  for  the  annual  population  increase  of 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  171 

700,000.  Not  a  single  one  of  them! — and  yet 
they  have  finally  advanced  until  the  White  Peril 
which  has  overrun  the  world  has  arrived  at  your 
very  door.  To  quote  from  President  Cleveland, 
it  "is  a  condition  and  not  a  theory  that  con- 
fronts" you,  and  that  condition  insistently  pre- 
sents the  question  of  the  famous  Tammany  chief- 
tain, "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  Are 
you  going  to  leave  Russia  in  Manchuria  with  her 
great  stronghold  of  Port  Arthur  as  convenient 
to  your  coasts  as  is  British  Wei-hai-wei  across 
the  gulf,  or  nearby  German  Tsingtao?  And 
while  you  are  turning  this  condition  over  in  your 
Japanese  mind,  don't  forget  that  Russia  re- 
placed you  in  the  Liao  Tung  peninsula  after  you 
had  handsomely  wron  it  in  the  Chinese  War,  be- 
cause, forsooth!  the  Russian,  French  and  Ger- 
man Governments,  by  a  polite  joint  note  ex- 
pressed their  fear  that  its  continued  occupation 
by  you  would  menace  international  peace !  It  was 
all  right  for  a  white  man  to  hold  that  strategic 
Chinese  port — any  white  man ;  but  not  you !  But 
let  us  get  back  to  the  Tammany  man's  practical 
inquiry,  "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 
Why,  exactly  what  you  did  do  about  it — attack 
the  Russian,  throw  him  out  of  Manchuria,  take 
and  hold  the  menace  of  Port  Arthur,  and  then 
eliminate  his  influence  from  Korea,  where  he 


172  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

not  only  stood  for  the  lowest  form  of  inefficient 
and  unsanitary  burlesque  on  government,  but 
actually  encouraged  the  persistence  of  the  igno- 
rance and  filth  that  made  the  Hermit  Kingdom 
in  every  sense  a  stench, — a  land  of  but  two 
classes,  the  robbers  and  the  robbed.  The  Ameri- 
can people  openly  sympathized  with  the  Japa- 
nese cause  in  their  Russian  War,  and  President 
Roosevelt  led  in  approving  and  formally  recog- 
nizing the  annexation  of  Korea  by  Japan. 

One  of  the  chief  causes  of  our  Spanish  War 
was  our  inability  longer  to  tolerate  the  constant 
yellow  fever  danger  from  Cuban  ports  which  the 
Spaniards  neither  could  nor  cared  to  control. 
And  yet  Cuba  in  her  worst  days  was  as  an  anti- 
septic hospital  ward  in  comparison  with  what 
Korea  always  meant  to  Japan — just  across  Tsu- 
shima Straits.  Now,  are  you,  kind  sir  or  madam, 
at  last  and  for  the  first  time,  beginning  to  see 
the  Far  Eastern  problem  through  Japanese 
eyes,  and  therefore  in  a  new  light?  Shantung 
and  Korea,  the  two  sore  points  of  Japanese 
aggression,  as  some  Occidentals  call  them; — yes, 
but  how  do  the  Japanese  feel  about  them?  That 
is  something  never  considered  by  the  "rocking 
chair  fleet"  of  internationalists  at  home  who 
have  never  seen  the  Far  East  but  have  talked  so 
incessantly  of  the  Yellow  Peril  bogey,  that  they 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  173 

cannot  realize  the  swallowing  powers  of  that 
real  dragon,  the  White  Peril,  and  how  he  is  re- 
garded by  the  other  fellow. 

We  have  seen  that  to  the  Japanese  Korea,  al- 
ways a  dangerous  pest-breeding  neighbor,  would, 
if  left  to  the  Russian,  afford  a  handy  spring- 
board for  a  leap  upon  nearby  Japan.  The  Rus- 
sian was  defeated,  and  Korea  has  been  cleaned 
up.  And  what  does  Shantung  mean  to  the 
Japanese?  It  means  an  eleventh-hour  decision 
to  prevent  the  passage  into  white  hands  of  that 
last  remnant  of  Asia  which  fronted  on  the  Japan 
dominated  waters,  the  waters  so  vital  to  the 
island  race  living  in  their  midst.  The  Japanese 
cannot,  for  the  life  of  him,  understand  America's 
excitement  over  Shantung  province  when  there 
was  none  over  Germany's  taking  it,  and  when 
the  French  holding  of  the  far  greater  provinces 
in  Tonkin,  etc.,  excite  Americans  no  more  than 
do  England's  or  Russia's  takings  from  China! 
If  the  reader  still  has  on  his  Japanese  spectacles, 
can  he  see  why  Japan  should  give  up  Shantung 
while  the  French,  English,  or  Russians  retain 
their  lots  of  broken  China?  If  I  were  Japanese 
I  would  loosen  my  hold  on  Shantung  at  the  same 
time  that  the  French,  English  and  Russians  re- 
linquish their  acquisitions  of  Chinese  territory, 
and  not  a  minute  sooner.  But — I  would  not 


174  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

have  agreed  to  restore  Shantung  to  China  as 
Japan  did  in  her  1914  ultimatum  to  Germany, 
nor  would  I  have  promised  to  support  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Korean  royal  house  only  a  few 
short  years  before  August  29,  1910,  when  Korea 
was  incorporated  into  the  Japanese  Empire. 
But  that  remark  brings  us  round  a  sharp  corner 
into  a  subject  far  wider  than  the  Far  East — it 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  long  established 
usages  of  European  diplomacy. 

In  the  Japanese  formal  assurances  just  cited, 
whereby  she  seemingly  gave  definite  outlines  to 
her  future  policies  regarding  those  two  moot 
points  of  Far  Eastern  discussion — Shantung 
and  Korea,  Japan  was  but  following  a  well  un- 
derstood and  commonly  accepted  system  of 
verbiage  employed  by  European  diplomacy. 
Some  ill-judged  friends  of  Japan  claim  that  she 
was  only  giving  expression  to  an  Oriental's  de- 
sire to  say  something  pleasant  whilst  awaiting 
future  events  to  shape  themselves  conveniently 
for  the  speaker.  There  is  no  use,  and  certainly 
no  common  sense,  in  advancing  that  sort  of  ex- 
planation which  does  not  explain.  Frankness 
is  best  and  therefore  wisest,  and  the  frank  fact 
is  that  Japan's  early  statements  and  later  acts 
(until  she  returns  Shantung  to  China)  are 
nothing  more  or  less  than  parallels  of  England's 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  175 

concerning  Egypt.  England  went  into  Egypt 
hand  in  hand  with  France,  and  under  the  sooth- 
ing fiction  of  allegiance  and  support  to  the 
Khedive  representing  there  the  Turkish  Sultan. 
Presently  the  French  found  themselves  firmly, 
but  very,  very  gently  disengaged  from  the  Egyp- 
tian situation,  and  England  remaining  alone  in 
the  saddle,  with  of  course  the  allegiance-to- 
Khedive  fiction  still  out  in  the  show  window. 
The  English  did  wonders  in  Egypt.  They 
cleaned  up  an  Augean  stable,  they  harnessed  the 
once  dangerous  Nile  so  that  its  floods  became 
uninterruptedly  profitable,  they  gave  good  gov- 
ernment to  a  downtrodden  people, — indeed,  no- 
where has  the  justly  praised  colonial  rule  of  the 
English  borne  sounder  fruit.  But — and  note 
this,  you  critics  of  Japanese  verbiage  anent 
Shantung  and  Korea, — it  was  all  done  under 
the  diplomatic  fiction  of  promising  allegiance  to 
a  ruler  not  allowed  to  rule, — of  seeming  subor- 
dination of  the  real  and  acting  power  just  like 
the  Japanese  phraseology  regarding  the  Korean 
royal  house.  Nobody  ever  calls  England's  treat- 
ment of  Egypt  an  example  of  Oriental  duplicity 
—they  approvingly  style  it  a  splendid  undertak- 
ing of  the  White  Man's  Burden! 

If  Japan  seeks  a  European  model  for  her  dip- 
lomatic action  she  need  not  go  so  far  back  as  the 


176  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

beginning  of  English  rule  in  Egypt.  She  has 
only  to  make  use  of  English  phraseology  in  her 
1919  dealings  with  Persia,  Russia  went  to 
pieces,  and  so  did  the  old  understanding  dividing 
Persia  into  two  spheres  of  influence,  the  northern, 
Russian,  and  the  southern,  English.  Did  Eng- 
land then  take  over  all  of  Persia  outright?  Cer- 
tainly not! — no  more  (in  words)  than  Japan  did 
Korea, — and  no  less!  All  she  did  was  to  bind 
Persia  to  purchase  all  military  and  other  govern- 
ment equipment  from  England,  and  to  take  from 
her  also  all  "advisers"  of  any  and  every  depart- 
ment, and  to  borrow  from  her  all  moneys  needed, 
whether  for  railroads  or  other  improvements  ad- 
vised by  the  English  "advisers,"  and  also  to  let 
them  "advise"  in  the  revision  of  her  tariff.  That 
is  all,  and  further,  the  English  Government, 
with  small  sense  of  humor,  goes  on  to  agree  in 
the  same  documents  "to  respect  absolutely  the 
independence  and  integrity  of  Persia" !  This,  of 
course,  puts  Persia  to-day  under  the  same  sort 
of  British  domination  that  was  exercised  over 
Egypt  until  the  action  of  the  Sultan  in  the  war 
necessitated  dropping  the  outworn  fiction  of 
allegiance  to  his  sovereignty.  This  is  not  written 
to  criticize  England,  but  to  readjust  the  view- 
point of  those  who  criticize  Japan  for  using  the 
same  diplomatic  formulas  and  methods  before 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  177 

taking  over  Korea  as  England  used  in  Egypt 
and  in  Persia.  The  Korean  episode  was  not 
"typical  of  Oriental  diplomacy" — it  was  only 
European  diplomacy  applied  by  Orientals  in  the 
Orient,  that  is  all.  ~~r" 

As  for  Shantung,  when  you  view  it  from  the 
Japanese  point  of  view,  and  realize  she  is  not 
taking  all  that  her  1917  treaties  with  England, 
France  and  Italy  permitted,  you  will  see  that 
the  Japanese  have  a  right  to  flatter  themselves 
that  they  are  showing  far  more  moderation  than 
has  ever  been  shown  in  the  Far  East  by  her  three 
European  predecessors  and  instructors  in  China 
partitioning.  The  very  fact  of  the  negotiation 
of  those  treaties  indicates  that  those  three  Euro- 
pean Powers  would  have  made  some  disposition 
among  themselves  of  Germany's  loot  in  Shan- 
tung if  they  had  not  approved  the  status  quo  of 
Japanese  occupation.  And  what  proof,  say  you, 
is  there  for  such  an  implication  that  they  would 
not  have  given  Shantung  back  to  China?  This, 
— did  England  fail  to  grasp  Wei-hai-wei  when, 
in  1895,  the  European  Powers  forced  Japan  to 
relinquish  her  war-won  Chinese  prizes? — cer- 
tainly not;  when  Japan  was  forced  out  England 
took  it  herself  and  holds  it  to-day.  Did  China 
get  back  Manchuria  that  same  year  when  Japan 
was  forced  out? — no,  Russia  moved  in.  That 


178  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

which  is  all  right  for  a  white  power  is  all  wrong 
for  Japan, — what  unfair  bosh!  If  Japan  had 
not  taken  over  Germany's  rights  in  Shantung 
(against  whose  taking  by  Germany  there  was 
no  American  or  other  protest),  then  one  of  the 
usual  European  annexers  would  surely  have 
stepped  in,  just  as  England  did  into  Wei-hai- 
wei,  or  Russia  into  Manchuria  after  the  Japanese 
defeat  of  China,  and  annexed  it.  At  the  date 
of  this  writing  I  firmly  believe  that  China  will 
receive  back  far  more  of  Shantung  from  the 
Japanese  than  she  would  have  gotten  had  the 
English  or  French  occupied  the  German  hold- 
ings there. 

All  men  of  common  sense,  of  whatever  nation- 
ality, regard  England's  control  of  Egypt  as  hav- 
ing been  a  blessing  for  the  land  and  its  people. 
England  will  surety  perform  for  Mesopotamia 
and  for  Persia  the  same  miracle  of  irrigation 
transforming  a  desert  into  paradise  that  Egypt 
shows,  and  we  look  forward  with  keen  interest 
to  that  certain  result.  Well  and  good,  but  now 
Jet  us  use  these  same  eyes  of  benevolent  approval 
for  another  people  blessed  and  another  land  im- 
proved, but  not  by  directing  them  upon  an 
Egypt  of  to-day  or  a  Mesopotamia  or  Persia  of 
to-morrow,  but  upon  Korea.  What  will  the 
visitor  there  see? 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  179 

There  were  in  December,  1918,  336,872  Jap- 
anese in  Korea,  of  which  66,943  were  in  Seoul. 
What  are  they  doing  for  the  country  and  its 
18,000,000  people?  Its  range  on  range  of  bare 
hills  remind  one  travelling  from  the  seaport  of 
Fusan  to  inland  Seoul  of  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona,  or  Spain,  or  Algeria.  This  is  because 
the  improvident  Koreans  denuded  the  country 
of  its  splendid  forests.  The  Japanese  (success- 
ful foresters,  as  their  own  pine-clad  hills  show) 
have  set  out  no  less  than  473,195,796  trees  in 
Korea,  and  are  still  pressing  on  with  its  reforesta- 
tion. They  are  employing  as  many  Koreans  as 
possible,  over  three  times  as  many  as  were  so 
employed  in  1910.  In  1911,  April  3  was  selected 
as  Arbor  Day  and  six  years  later  over  750,000 
participated  in  its  beneficent  exercises.  The  out- 
put of  the  Korean  coal  mines  has  been  nearly 
trebled  since  1910.  Her  foreign  trade  went  up 
from  59  million  yen  in  1910  to  131  million  in  1917. 
Her  railway  mileage  has  doubled  under  Japa- 
nese control.  Savings  are  being  encouraged,  as 
appears  from  the  last  available  report  (January, 
1917)  which  shows  827,215  Korean  depositors, 
and  an  increase  of  177,687  individuals  during  the 
preceding  year.  The  telegraph  lines  have  been 
doubled  in  length  by  the  Japanese  and  the  1910 
telephone  lines  of  302  miles  have  grown  to  over 


180  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

3,000  miles.  Both  highways  and  street  exten- 
sions show  even  handsomer  increases,  and  Seoul 
with  its  many  broad  avenues  is,  thanks  to  the 
Japanese,  one  of  the  best  paved  cities  in  the 
Orient.  Extensive  harbor  improvements  have 
transformed  the  old-fashioned  Korean  ports  into 
models  of  modern  embarkation  points.  Espe- 
cially have  the  Japanese  encouraged  agriculture 
in  their  new  province  and  thereby  secured  con- 
stantly increasing  benefits  for  the  inhabitants, 
of  whom  80  per  cent  are  normally  agriculturists, 
producing  70  per  cent  of  their  land's  exports. 
Model  farms,  experimental  stations  and  train- 
ing stations  have  been  set  up  in  many  centres, 
and  over  a  million  yen  is  thus  annually  expended 
to  uplift  the  Korean  farmers.  Left  to  himself 
he  would  cultivate  nothing  but  rice,  and  when  it 
was  harvested  wait  until  next  season  for  the 
same  crop,  but  the  Japanese  are  teaching  him 
new  side  lines — fruit  trees,  cotton,  sugar  beet, 
hemp,  tobacco,  silk  worms,  sheep  breeding,  etc. 
An  increase  of  several  hundred  per  cent  in  wheat, 
bean  and  barley  acreage  has  thus  been  achieved. 
The  cotton  acreage  increased  from  1,123  cho  in 
1910  to  48,000  in  1917,  and  the  number  of  fruit 
trees  more  than  trebled.  Numerous  factories, 
something  hitherto  unknown  in  the  land,  have 
been  introduced,  affording  occupation  for  thou- 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  181 

sands  of  Koreans.  Startling  improvements  in 
health  conditions  have  been  effected  by  means 
of  hygienic  inspection  and  government  hos- 
pitals and  by  new  waterworks  everywhere.  The 
schools,  especially  industrial  schools,  are  vigor- 
ously and  successfully  combating  the  old  Ko- 
rean ignorance  and  shiftlessness.  This  hurried 
glimpse  of  Japan's  efforts  to  better  Korean  con- 
ditions doesn't  read  like  the  selfish  efforts  of  an 
oppressor,  does  it?  The  foregoing  is  a  fair  pic- 
ture of  Japanese  rule  in  Korea,  and  it  richly 
deserves  to  be  hung  alongside  of  the  one  depict- 
ing England's  service  to  Egypt,  nor  need  it  fear 
comparison. 

As  for  Japan's  governmental  administration 
in  Korea  since  1910,  the  fairest  comment  is  that 
the  military  government  there  was  not  success- 
ful. Few  military  chiefs  are  of  the  type  afford- 
ing successful  colonial  governors,  while  their 
subordinate  officers,  especially  those  of  the  lower 
ranks,  are  almost  always  tactless.  The  Japanese 
themselves,  from  their  experiences  in  Formosa 
as  well  as  in  Korea,  found  out  this  fact,  and  in 
the  summer  of  1919  the  mistake  was  corrected 
by  Imperial  rescript,  and  civil  governors  re- 
placed the  military  ones  in  both  those  provinces. 
No  matter  which  nation  undertakes  it,  military 
government  for  a  dependency  proves  unsatis- 


182  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

factory.  We  found  this  out  in  the  early  days 
of  our  Philippine  experiments,  where  there  oc- 
curred several  unpleasant  episodes  of  drastic 
"water  cures"  and  the  like  tyrannical  exercises  of 
power  by  under-officers.  It  would  have  proved 
equally  true  in  Cuba,  if  in  General  Wood  we 
had  not  happened  to  have  an  administrator  of 
unusual  ability  and  tact.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  even  the  worst  instances  of  unwis- 
dom cited  against  the  Japanese  military  rule  in 
Korea  were  as  beneficent  blessings  in  compari- 
son with  the  consistently  continuous  misrule  by 
Koreans  which  it  succeeded. 

American  readers  will  be  interested  to  learn 
that  Baron  Saito,  lately  appointed  Governor 
General  of  Korea,  although  now  for  twenty  years 
out  of  the  active  naval  service,  was  in  1898  the 
commander  of  the  Japanese  cruiser  "Akitsu- 
shima"  which  put  in  to  Manila  Harbor  just  after 
Admiral  Dewey's  great  victory.  Admiral  Voii 
Diederich,  bent  on  making  trouble  for  the  Ameri- 
cans, sent  his  Flag  Lieutenant  Von  Hintze 
(years  later  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs)  to 
persuade  Captain  Saito  to  join  in  resisting 
Admiral  Dewey's  regulation  requiring  an  Amer- 
ican officer  to  visit  every  incoming  vessel  even 
if  a  warship,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  "visit 
and  search"  and  as  such  illegal  and  improper. 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  183 

Captain  Saito's  reply  was  that  if  he  were  in  Ad- 
miral Dewey's  place  he  would  act  just  as  he 
was  acting,  and  that  so  far  from  joining  with 
Von  Diederich  he  accepted  the  visit  from  the 
American  officer  as  a  welcome  act  of  courtesy! 
The  selection  of  such  a  man  by  the  Mikado  in 
the  summer  of  1919  to  be  his  Governor  General 
superseding  the  military  government,  and  the 
appointment  as  Consul  General  by  our  State 
Department  of  Mr.  Ransford  Miller,  one  of  our 
best  equipped  men  in  Far  Eastern  matters, 
augurs  well  for  a  better  mutual  understanding 
at  that  difficult  post. 

After  reading  a  number  of  the  attacks  upon 
Japan's  behavior  in  Korea,  alleged  or  actuated 
by  American  missionaries  in  that  field,  I  hap- 
pened upon  some  incidents  and  facts  which 
aroused  my  suspicions,  so  I  went  to  Seoul  and 
investigated  upon  the  ground.  One  of  these  in- 
cidents was  my  happening  to  notice  that,  in  a 
photograph  sent  from  Korea  and  published  in 
a  'reputable  American  magazine  ( Current  Opin- 
ion}, the  uniforms  worn  by  Japanese  soldiers 
who  were  shooting  a  Korean  victim  were  not  the 
uniforms  of  to-day,  but  those  worn  in  1895  dur- 
ing the  Chinese-Russian  War.  The  photograph 
proved  to  be  one  of  an  execution  in  1895  of  a 
Chinese  spy  caught  in  Korean  costume!  Those 


184  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

who  sent  this  photograph  to  America  for  publica- 
tion intended  to  deceive  the  American  publisher 
(which  they  did)  and  through  him  his  Ameri- 
can readers;  people  who  will  thus  deliberately 
deceive  once,  will  not  stop  at  one  deception! 
The  perusal  of  Dr.  Robert  Speer's  report  on  the 
missionary  situation  in  Korea  afforded  another 
reason  for  my  desire  to  see  for  myself  that  which 
was  being  so  severely  attacked  by  the  very  mis- 
sionaries whom  the  fair-minded  Secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  de- 
scribed. I  have  been  a  member  of  the  Foreign 
Missions  Committee  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in 
New  York  City  and  therefore  certainly  not 
prejudiced  against  the  movement,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  I  believe  strongly  that  work  in  the 
foreign  field  should  always  be  conducted  with 
proper  respect  for  the  government  there  exist- 
ing. A  member  of  an  American  missionary 
family  who  had  lived  twenty  years  in  Seoul  told 
me  they  there  generally  believed  that  the  Japa- 
nese were  trying  to  drive  them  out  of  the  coun- 
try because  American  teaching  of  Christianity 
was  subversive  of  the  Imperial  Government! 
Such  men  and  women,  earnest  hard  working 
Christians  though  they  be,  should  remember  that 
when  attempt  was  made  to  draw  from  Our 
Saviour  a  criticism  of  Roman  taxes,  the  reply 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  185 

began,  "Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's."  Missionary  methods  that  are  sub- 
versive of  foreign  governmental  systems  are 
unchristian  and  need  changing — and  so  do  the 
missionaries ! 

The  Seoul  Press  of  December  12,  1919,  de- 
votes a  leading  article  to  the  annual  conference 
of  Methodists  in  Korea  held  in  Seoul.  The 
paper  states  that  the  foreign  missionaries  had  no 
part  whatsoever  in  the  recent  political  disturb- 
ances in  the  peninsula,  and  weight  attaches  to 
this  editorial  statement  because  the  Seoul  Press 
is  more  or  less  the  mouthpiece  both  of  the  Gov- 
ernment-General of  Korea  as  well  as  of  the 
Police  Bureau.  The  following  is  an  editorial 
article  of  the  Seoul  Press,  published  under  the 
heading  of  "Missionaries  at  the  Cross  Ways": 

"We  learn  with  great  pleasure  that  at  an 
annual  conference  of  Methodists  throughout 
Chosen  recently  held  in  Seoul,  Bishop  Herbert 
Welch  gave  to  Korean  pastors  and  evangelists 
present  a  very  timely  warning  and  instruction. 
As  we  have  it,  the  Bishop  spoke  to  the  following 
effect : 

'You  are  leaders  and  teachers  of  Christian 
converts,  and  your  whole  concern  should  be 
directed  to  spiritual  work.  I  am  confident  that 
none  of  you  have  anything  to  do  with  politics 


186  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

under  the  cloak  of  religion.  If,  however,  any  of 
you  are  found  to  be  speaking  and  acting  at  vari- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  I  shall  not 
tolerate  it.  It  is  really  disappointing  to  find 
that  since  spring  last  not  a  few  workers  in  our 
church  have  acted  contrary  to  our  expectation. 
Religionists  have  their  own  sphere  of  activity,  as 
politicians  have  theirs.  Since  we  have  devoted 
ourselves  to  religious  work,  it  is  only  proper  that 
we  should  confine  our  activity  to  it;  in  fact,  it  is 
our  duty  to  do  so.  I  am  confident  that  all  of 
you  are  working  with  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
and  in  conformity  with  the  principle  of  our 
faith.'  " 

"The  above  quotation  is  not  verbatim,  so  we 
cannot  vouchsafe  for  its  accuracy.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  Bishop  Welch  emphatically  dis- 
approved of  any  Korean  Christian  workers 
taking  part  in  political  movements. 

"In  spite  of  all  things  said  to  the  contrary, 
we  persist  in  our  conviction  that  no  foreign  mis- 
sionaries have  ever  abetted  or  encouraged  their 
Korean  followers  to  rise  against  the  Govern- 
ment. Some  of  them  might  have  shown  passive 
sympathy  towards  Korean  agitators  in  their 
aspirations  and  hopes.  It  is  an  undeniable  fact 
that  the  Korean  agitators  include  many  men 
and  women  prominent  in  the  Presbyterian  arid 


THE   WHITE   PERIL  187 

Methodist  Churches.  This  fact,  however,  does 
not  necessarily  establish  the  erroneous  contention 
very  often  put  forth  by  some  Japanese  jingoists 
that  foreign  missionaries  are  at  their,  back.  We 
continue  to  believe  that  those  Korean  Christians 
who  have  taken  part  in  the  agitations  have  done 
so  on  their  own  account  without  either  the 
knowledge  or  approval  of  their  foreign  teachers 
and  leaders. 

"Nevertheless,  we  cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact 
that  the  passive  sympathy  shown  Korean  agita- 
tors, in  word  and  writing,  by  some  foreign  mis- 
sionaries aggravated  the  situation,  the  agitators 
interpreting  this  to  the  credulous  masses  as  a 
token  of  the  foreign  aid  which  they  said  would 
be  forthcoming.  It  is  a  thousand  pities  that 
these  missionaries  did  not  take  a  more  manly  and 
resolute  attitude  and  declare  to  their  Korean 
followers  their  disapproval  of  any  of  them  tak- 
ing part  in  the  useless  and  harmful  agitation. 
Had  they  done  so,  the  trouble  would  not  have 
assumed  the  dimension  it  did.  It  is  of  no  "use, 
however,  to  cry  over  spilt  milk.  Let  the  past 
bury  its  past.  Now  that  the  Government-Gen- 
eral of  Chosen  has  been  reorganized  under  a  most 
liberal-minded  and  able  statesman  and  many 
good  reforms  are  on  the  eve  of  being  effected 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Korean  people,  let  us  hope 


188  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

that  such  foreign  missionaries  as  we  have  re- 
ferred to  will  completely  change  their  attitude 
and  guide  their  Korean  followers  in  the  right 
way  as  Bishop  Welch  has  shown.  They  now 
stand  at  the  cross  ways,  either  to  cooperate  with 
the  Government  and  make  it  their  friend  or  to 
persist  in  opposing  it  and  make  it  antagonistic 
to  themselves  as  well  as  to  their  work.  We  have 
sufficient  faith  in  their  wisdom  that  they  will 
make  no  mistake  in  their  choice." 

The  only  comment  or  suggestion  made  to  me 
at  any  time  by  the  Japanese  authorities  regard- 
ing American  missionaries  in  Korea  struck  me 
as  sound  common  sense — they  said,  "Why  don't 
you  send  to  Korea  (a  Japanese  province)  mis- 
sionaries who  have  worked  at  least  a  year  in  Ja- 
pan, say  in  the  language  schools,  and  who  thus, 
understanding  the  Japanese,  do  not  begin  work 
in  Korea  with  the  prejudice  of  ignorance  against 
everything  Japanese."  Could  anything  be  fairer 
than  that?  There  are  too  many  of  our  mission- 
aries who  have  lived  so  long  in  Korea  as  to  think 
they  own  the  country,  and  they  can  countenance 
no  changes  therein,  even  improvements.  In  that 
connection  it  is  discouraging  to  note  that  in  that 
flourishing  missionary  field,  with  hundreds  of 
missionaries  and  over  300,000  Korean  converts, 
Christianity  seems  to  have  left  its  converts  about 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  189 

as  ignorant  and  filthy  as  before  their  conversion, 
and  nothing  like  so  advanced  in  civilization  and 
decency  of  life  as  the  nearby  Buddhists  and  Shin- 
toists  of  Japan.  Why?  Perhaps  some  light  on 
the  answer  can  be  gotten  from  Dr.  Speer's  offi- 
cial report,  a  perusal  of  which  hardly  inclines 
one  to  select  as  broad-minded  guides  for  shaping 
American  public  opinion  toward  Japan  some  of 
the  men  he  there  describes.  They  are  doing  faith- 
ful work  according  to  their  lights,  but  they  are 
hardly  qualified  for  advisers  upon  international 
affairs,  in  which  calm  judgment  must  go  hand 
in  hand  with  a  constant  desire  for  good  will 
among  men. 

Reverting  to  the  danger  of  foreigners  un- 
thinkingly abusing  a  nation's  hospitality  by  acts 
or  teachings  subversive  of  its  authority,  I  must 
confess  to  believing  before  visiting  the  Far  East 
that  democracy  was  the  best  form  of  government 
for  all  peoples.  A  study  on  the  spot  of  the  con- 
trast between  the  excellently  functioning  Im- 
perial Government  of  Japan  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  disheartening  venality  of 
many  officials  of  the  Chinese  Republic  plus  the 
situation  in  Siberia  made  too  free  for  democracy, 
has  readjusted  my  point  of  view.  Democracy 
for  peoples  like  the  Anglo-Saxons — decidedly 
yes! — but  for  the  Far  East,  no.  Kipling  re- 


190  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

marks  that  Russia  is  an  eastern  and  not  a  western 
nation,  and  of  Siberia  especially  is  this  true. 
Mr.  Alfred  R.  Castle,  a  distinguished  Harvard 
graduate,  of  Honolulu,  who  served  in  Siberia 
with  the  American  Red  Cross,  states  that  of  the 
380  Bolshevist  Commissars  constituting  their 
government  in  all  parts  of  European  Russia  and 
Siberia,  286  were  Russian  Jews  who  had  lived 
in  America,  and  nearly  all  in  New  York  City's 
lower  East  Side.  With  grim  humor,  thus  did 
"chickens  come  home  to  roost"  for  the  Russian 
people  at  large,  and  the  awful  tragedies  of  their 
Jewish  pogroms  weje  amply  revenged.  Trotzky 
was  evidently  not  the  only  viper  we  warmed  at 
our  national  bosom.  During  the  dark  days  of 
the  Jewish  pogroms  in  Russia,  American  Jews 
rightly  rallied  to  their  support  and  brought  all 
possible  influence  to  bear  upon  our  government 
to  urge  a  square  deal  for  their  co-religionists  in 
Russia.  But  this  new  situation  is  a  different  one, 
because  many  of  these  so-called  Jews  now  in- 
fluential in  Russia  are  apostates.  There  is  a 
fine  significance  in  the  fact  that  such  sterling 
Jewish  leaders  as  Rabbi  Silverman  are  recogniz- 
ing that  American  Jews  should  not  support  law- 
less anarchists  just  because  they  happened  to  be 
born  in  the  Jewish  faith.  Russia's  experiments 
in  democracy  are  even  less  encouraging  than 


THE    WHITE    PERIL  191 

China's.  No,  neither  missionaries  nor  American 
commercial  pioneers,  nor  any  other  decent  for- 
ward-looking men  are  faced  the  right  way  when 
they  speak  or  act,  even  unintentionally,  so  as  to 
make  trouble  for  such  a  preserver  of  order  as 
the  responsible  Japanese  governmental  system 
daily  shows  itself  to  be,  least  of  all  while  living 
in  lands  under  the  Japanese  flag.  That  system 
suits  its  own  people,  and  if  it  doesn't  suit  any 
of  our  people,  it  would  be  well  if  they  came  home, 
for  better  relations  between  our  country  and 
Japan  are  of  the  first  importance. 

So  much  for  Shantung  and  Korea,  an  elev- 
enth-hour stand  by  one  nation  alone  against 
the  rapidly  advancing  world-consuming  White 
Peril.  If  a  complete  readjustment  of  the  Cali- 
fornian  friction  can  be  effected,  and  if  American 
public  opinion  will  consent  to  enlightenment 
upon  the  Shantung  and  Korean  questions,  not 
only  will  a  long  step  be  taken  toward  restoring 
ieelings  similar  to  those  of  1905  between  our  two 
peoples,  but  also  two  objects  will  be  achieved, 
important  alike  to  the  Japanese  and  to  Ameri- 
can labor  and  American  capital.  Japan  has 
been  placed  alongside  Asian  markets  by  the  "Act 
of  God,"  but  she  needs  American  capital  to  de- 
velop them.  Our  capital  seeking  outlets  to  Asian. 
markets  (sure  to  give  added  employment  to 


192  THE    WHITE    PERIL 

American  labor)  needs  the  advantages  of  that 
Oriental  cooperation  which  China's  neighbor, 
Japan,  controls  for  geographical  and  racial  rea- 
sons. The  best  international  "deal"  is  that  which 
benefits  both  parties  thereto,  and  here  is  such  a 
combination.  Here  is  a  Far  Eastern  policy  that 
squares  with  our  history,  our  needs  and  our 
ideals. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  YELLOW  PERIL  BOGEY 

ONE  of  the  most  ingenious  of  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm's  lines  of  propaganda  found  expression  in 
his  constantly  recurring  warnings  against  the 
Yellow  Peril,  which  he  painted  with  artistic  skill. 
Its  purpose  was  to  arouse  such  suspicions  be- 
tween Japan  and  America  as  would  leave  him 
free  uninterruptedly  to  develop  his  policy  of 
island  grabbing  in  the  Pacific.  Under  a  smoke 
screen  of  Yellow  Peril  talk  the  cruelty  of  his 
soldiers  to  the  Chinese  after  the  relief  of  Peking 
from  the  Boxers  passed  almost  unnoticed.  His 
plan  succeeded,  especially  in  America,  but  not  so 
much  along  the  eastern  seaboard  as  throughout 
the  rest  of  our  land. 

Before  the  outbreak  of  the  German  Peril,  our 
fellow-citizens  living  west  of  the  Rockies  fre- 
quently urged  that  the  rest  of  us  were  carelessly 
regardless  of  this  .Yellow  Peril,  that  we  con- 
sidered our  Atlantic  seaboard  as  the  country's 

193 


194         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

front  door,  and  cared  little  for  what  might  be 
going  on  at  the  back  door  facing  another  great 
ocean.  Perhaps  they  were  right,  and  that  too, 
regardless  of  whether  or  not  there  exists  a  real 
Yellow  Peril.  One  of  the  oldest  of  London's 
famous  merchant  guilds  is  that  of  the  Scriven- 
ers. At  their  annual  banquet  there  is  handed 
around  the  table,  from  man  to  man,  a  splendid 
loving  cup,  ancient, — curiously  and  richly  em- 
bossed. As  each  man  rises  to  drink  therefrom, 
there  stands  back  to  back  with  him  he  who  last 
drank,  holding  up  in  an  attitude  of  defense  the 
massive  silver  cover  of  the  great  tankard.  Why 
this  quaint  custom?  it  dates  from  the  days  when 
he  who  so  far  relaxed  his  vigilance  as  to  drink 
from  a  cup,  even  among  friends,  risked  a  dag- 
ger stab,  and  therefore  needed  some  one  to  pro- 
tect his  back.  We  must  admit  that  most  Ameri- 
cans had  become  accustomed  to  look  out  upon 
the  rest  of  the  world  \vith  an  eastward  glance, 
directed  toward  the  Atlantic  seaboard  or  the  gulf 
ports.  But  what  about  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  their 
back?  Aren't  our  California  cousins  right,  and 
should  we  not  draw  a  lesson  from  the  ancient 
worthies  of  the  Scriveners'  Guild  and  protect 
that  important  half  of  our  national  anatomy  as 
well  as  the  other?  With  that  determination,  let 
us  turn  about  and  take  a  serious  look  at  the 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY         195 

present  international  situation  to  the  west  of  us, 
if  only  to  see  whether  or  not  a  Yellow  Peril 
really  threatens  us. 

Even  a  careless  observer  can  see  that  it  is 
materially  altered  by  the  fact  that,  owing  to  the 
war,  the  Germans  have  dropped  out  and  the 
Russians  have  blown  up.  And  those  very  Ger- 
mans and  Russians  were,  in  that  great  neighbor- 
hood, serious  elements  of  unrest  and  aggression. 
The  insatiable  territorial  greed  of  their  two 
imperial  governments  knew  no  rest;  both  were 
willing  to  go  to  the  limit,  and  both  were  approach- 
ing it  rapidly.  The  Czar  had  met  a  check  at  the 
hands  of  the  Japanese,  but  the  Kaiser  was  still 
uncurbed.  On  which  side  those  two  powers 
would  have  finally  taken  their  stand  if  a  real 
Yellow  Peril  arose,  no  one  could  say — least  of 
all  any  who  read  what  the  war  disclosed  of  For- 
eign Office  documents  penned  in  Berlin  or  Pet- 
rograd.  As  against  those  two  dangerous  factors 
now  disappeared  from  the  Pacific  are  there  not 
other  ones  arrived  or  looming  up  which  serve  as 
antidotes  against  any  Yellow  Peril,  no  matter 
how  serious?  We  shall  see. 

But  let  us  examine  for  a  few  minutes  this 
Yellow  Peril  of  which  one  has  heard  so  much. 
What  is  the  nature  of  this  illusion  and  what  does 
it  become  in  the  dreams  of  certain  demagogues 


196         THE   YELLOW   PERIL    BOGEY 

among  us?  Nothing  more  or  less  than  that  the 
entire  Japanese  nation  is  training  itself  (as  did 
Germany)  for  military  aggression,  that  it  will 
be  directed  against  us,  either  before  or  after  the 
said  completely  Teutonized  Japanese  nation  has 
taken  over  and  trained  to  arms  their  400,000,000 
Chinese  neighbors,  an  irresistible  yellow  army, 
lusting  to  fall  upon  the  white  Americans.  That, 
condensed  into  a  few  words,  is  the  Yellow  Peril 
as  seen  first  by  many  American  jingoes,  second, 
by  a  large  proportion  of  the  citizens  of  our 
Pacific  coast  states,  and — last,  but  not  at  all  least, 
by  a  few  militaristic  Japanese.  Most  of  these 
widely  differing  folk,  wherever  they  reside,  must 
be  convinced  they  are  in  error  before  the  Yellow 
Peril  bogey  is  laid.  How  can  such  a  peace-be- 
getting crusade  be  planned? 

Let  us  first  consider  the  few  militaristic  Japa- 
nese jingoes.  The  Japanese  people  are  unusually 
shrewd,  and  as  a  race  gifted  with  a  high  average 
of  common  sense.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the 
present  generation  has  tasted  great  military 
glory,  first  in  their  defeat  of  the  Chinese  in  1895, 
and  later,  in  1905,  in  their  destruction  of  the  gen- 
eral belief  in  Russian  invincibility.  This  taste  of 
military  glory  was  exceeding  good,  and  undoubt- 
edly strengthened  the  hand  of  the  military  party. 
But  excellent  as  was  the  flavor  of  those  achieve- 


THE   YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY         197 

ments,  the  hard-headed  Japanese  cannot  forget 
that  they  were  followed  by  years  of  grievous 
taxation,  from  which  there  was  little  promise  of 
relief,  until,  unexpectedly,  huge  orders  for  sup- 
plies needed  for  the  European  conflict  happily 
turned  the  trade  balance  in  favor  of  Japan. 

I  have  never  seen  such  widely  distributed 
prosperity  as  that  which  Japan  is  to-day  enjoy- 
ing, and  its  innumerable  beneficiaries  are  for 
peace,  and  resolutely  set  against  anything  which 
may  interrupt  that  prosperity.  The  urgent  de- 
mand for  labor  at  mounting  wages  is  emptying 
the  prisons,  and  mercantile  life  has  gained  so 
many  new  charms  that  this  year,  instead  of  a 
waiting  list  at  the  military  academy,  there  are 
many  vacancies  in  the  entering  class,  numerous 
applicants  preferring  a  business  to  a  military 
career. 

America  and  Japan  lead  the  world  in  that  de- 
velopment of  journalism  known  as  the  "yellow 
press",  so  we,  of  all  people,  should  be  sympa- 
thetic, and  not  startled,  to  learn  that  certain 
Japanese  yellow  journals  used  to  print  lurid 
articles  to  the  effect  that  Russia  or  Germany,  or 
both,  could  be  relied  upon  to  finance  Japanese 
aggression  against  us.  Especially  were  such 
articles  necessary  to  military  jingoism  during  the 
long  period  of  heavy  taxation  between  the  end 


198         THE    YELLOW   PERIL   BOGEY 

of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  and  the  receipt  of 
enriching  war  orders  that  followed  1914.  Any 
Japanese  would  object  to  a  new  war  at  the  pres- 
ent day  cost  of  war,  if  it  meant  heavier  internal 
taxation.  Each  modern  war  costs  more  per  diem 
than  its  predecessor  for  new  destructive  appli- 
ances, nor  can  any  army  lacking  them  stand 
against  one  equipped  therewith.  But  it  was  all 
so  simple,  according  to  these  journalistic  shadow- 
dancers — increased  taxes  would  not  be  necessary 
because  funds  would  be  provided  from  the  vast 
war  chest  and  gold  reserve  of  Germany  irked 
by  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  South  America, — or 
from  the  even  longer  purse  of  Russia,  which 
Rudyard  Kipling  reminded  the  world  was  the 
most  westerly  of  eastern  nations,  and  not  the 
most  easterly  of  western  ones.  But  the  terms 
of  the  Versailles  treaty  of  peace  and  the  ruinous 
results  of  Russian  Bolshevism  have  interrupted 
this  financial  pipedream,  and  broken  the  pipe 
once  and  for  all.  Taxes  must  go  up  .to  finance 
another  war — there  is  no  other  way! 

Furthermore,  greatly  as  Japanese  military 
politicians  and  their  yellow  press  may,  in  the 
past,  have  sneered  at  American  unpreparedness, 
classing  us  with  the  Chinese,  even  they  cannot 
to-day  mislead  the  average  Japanese  upon  this 
subject,  in  view  of  our  millions  of  trained  sol- 


THE   YELLOW   PERIL    BOGEY        199 

diers,  and  the  demonstration  of  our  wholehearted 
seriousness  in  the  waging  of  a  war. 

In  the  war-changed  Pacific  Ocean  situation, 
of  even  greater  significance  than  the  elimination 
of  Russia  and  Germany,  is  the  greatly  enhanced 
importance  of  Australia  within  the  British  Em- 
pire, discussed  in  a  later  chapter,  and  the  revo- 
lutionized strength  of  the  American  fighting 
force.  Before  the  war  (June  30,  1914),  we  had 
under  arms  92,482  soldiers,  55,384  sailors  and 
10,272  marines.  When  the  armistice  was  signed 
(November  11,  1918),  we  possessed  armed  and 
equipped  3,670,888  soldiers,  510,691  sailors  and 
32,385  marines.  In  addition  to  this  great  force 
of  about  four  and  a  quarter  million  fighting  men, 
we  already  had  registered  and  subject  to  im- 
mediate call  to  the  colors,  six  million  more  sol- 
diers, making  an  astounding  total  of  over  ten 
million!  It  has  been  computed  that  New  York 
State  alone  provided  370,000  of  these  fighting 
men,  and  that  if  the  armistice  had  not  stopped 
the  operation  of  the  draft,  that  State  alone  would 
have  sent  by  July,  1919,  the  impressive  total  of 
810,000  to  the  Federal  camps  and  to  France.  As 
Adjutant  General  of  that  State,  and  therefore 
the  officer  in  charge  there  of  the  Federal  draft, 
I  cannot  bear  too  earnest  tribute  to  the  skill, 
energy  and  tact  with  which  Major  General 


200         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

Crowder,  the  Provost  Marshal  General,  one  of 
the  great  "finds"  of  the  war,  conducted  that 
amazing  business.  It  was  an  inspiration  as  well 
as  an  honor  to  serve  under  his  orders. 

Admiral  Mahan  points  out  that  a  greatly 
superior  fleet  does  not  need  to  fight  in  order  to 
gain  its  purpose;  it  achieves  it  without  fighting. 
The  surrender  without  a  struggle  of  the  German 
fleet  proves  he  was  right.  For  this  reason,  our 
tremendous  increase  in  fighting  power,  and  the 
demonstration  of  how  whole-heartedly  we  apply 
our  wealth  to  war  purposes,  have  already  won  us 
a  great  victory  for  peace  and  rendered  ridiculous 
any  Yellow  Peril  bogey.  Foreign  jingoes  who, 
before  we  awoke  in  1917,  might  have  urged 
aggression  against  the  United  States,  will  from 
now  on  have  difficulty  in  securing  a  hearing  at 
their  own  Foreign  Office.  Especially  will  this 
be  true  if  we  maintain  the  efficiency  of  our  Fleet, 
and  introduce  a  system  of  short  military  training 
for  our  young  men  along  lines  similar  to  that 
practised  by  the  peace-loving  Swiss. 

Of  all  illusory  international  prognostications, 
the  flimsiest  is  the  possibility  of  Japan's  con- 
structing a  vast  yellow  army  of  Chinese  to  attack 
us.  The  most  outstanding  reasons  for  its  flimsi- 
ness  are,  first,  the  really  genuine  friendship  for 
us  felt  by  the  Chinese  (which  we  have  deserved, 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY         201 

• 

thank  God!  and  may  we  continue  to  do  so!) 
coupled  with  their  constantly  growing  hatred  of 
the  Japanese,  caused  by  their  defeat  in  1895,  by 
the  definite  loss  of  Manchuria,  by  the  21  demands 
of  1915  and  the  method  of  their  presentation,  by 
the  recent  Shantung  episode,  etc.,  etc.  The 
second  reason  is,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that 
the  Chinese  are  not  a  military  people,  therein 
differing  widely  from  the  Japanese.  To  the 
latter,  centuries  of  training  and  the  importance 
enjoyed  all  through  their  history  by  the  Samurai 
or  fighting  man,  have  put  a  high  premium  upon 
warlike  valor,  whilst  in  China  the  soldier  ranked 
lowest  in  the  social  scale,  at  the  top  of  which  pub- 
lic opinion  placed  the  peaceful  student,  untrained 
in  arms  and  disdainful  thereof.  Just  so  surely 
as  the  traditions  of  old  Japan  have  made  her 
to-day  a  soldiery  nation,  equally  certain  is  it  that 
no  nation,  least  of  all  hated  Japan,  will  ever  be 
able  to  fashion  a  great  anti-American  fighting 
force  out  of  the  inbred  pacifism  of  the  Chinese. 
Senator  Reed  of  Missouri  stated  in  the  United 
States  Senate  that  of  the  total  population  of  the 
countries  composing  the  proposed  League  of 
Nations,  811,425,500  would  be  yellow,  brown, 
red  and  black  races,  with  only  289,488,800  of  the 
white  race.  One-half  of  that  preponderating 
total  of  non-white  races  are  the  peace-loving 


202         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

Chinese,  whose  numbers  are  neutralized  by  the 
facts  of  their  centuries-long  inbred  pacifism, 
their  traditional  friendship  for  the  United  States, 
and  their  antipathy  toward  the  Japanese.  The 
rest  of  these  non-white  races,  except  those  of 
heterogeneous  India,  are  too  widely  scattered  to 
become  unitedly  effective. 

So  much  for  laying  the  Yellow  Peril  ghost 
among  Japanese  military  extremists,  and  now 
let  us  have  a  shot  at  it  among  our  own  people. 

During  a  recent  stay  of  nearly  four  months  in 
California,  spent  at  different  points  throughout 
that  peculiarly  American  State,  the  writer  car- 
ried on  a  campaign  of  inquiry  among  all  sorts  of 
persons  as  to  how  they  felt  about  the  Japanese 
Peril,  or  (to  combine  those  islanders  with  the 
Chinese)  the  Yellow  Peril.  Easterners  and  res- 
idents of  our  middle  west  would  be  surprised 
to  find,  not  only  how  widely  is  this  feeling  spread 
out  there,  but  also  the  intelligence  of  the  people 
entertaining  it.  In  Riverside  it  was  vehemently 
voiced  by  a  lady  superintending  a  reading  room, 
by  a  library  assistant,  and  by  the  leading  auto- 
mobile agent ;  in  Pasadena  by  a  student  working 
his  way  through  college  as  a  hotel  waiter  and  by 
the  owner  of  a  large  store;  by  a  prominent 
clergyman  at  Berkeley;  and  by  an  enterprising 
steamship  agent  in  Los  Angeles,  etc.  No  one 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY         203 

seemed  to  feel  it  more  strongly  than  a  bright 
young  woman  in  a  Santa  Barbara  book  store,  in- 
telligently posted  upon  the  improved  reading 
of  that  climatic  paradise.  In  San  Francisco  the 
leading  banker  felt  as  strongly  and  talked  as 
feelingly  thereon  as  a  shabby  lounger  on  a  park 
bench.  An  old-fashioned  boss  of  that  politics- 
loving  metropolis  remarked,  "it's  easy  to  be  right 
in  politics  here — you've  only  got  to  be  anti-Japa- 
nese and  pro-Irish."  But  in  every  case,  when 
pressed  for  the  reason  at  the  back  of  the  anti- 
Japanese  feeling,  they  all  admitted  to  a  dread  of 
the  Yellow  Peril.  So  long  as  England  and  Ger- 
many were  engaged  in  a  struggle  for  naval  su- 
premacy, so  long  as  France  and  Germany  were 
each  seeking  an  army  strength  superior  to  its 
rival,  just  so  long  was  there  sure  to  be  a  strong, 
at  times  a  bitter,  feeling  between  the  contesting 
nations.  It  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that  so  long 
as  there  continues  a  belief  among  our  Western- 
ers of  a  Yellow  Peril  threatening  us,  just  so  long 
will  there  be  postponed  those  cordial  relations 
between  us  and  Japan  so  greatly  to  be  desired. 

Fortunately  these  fellow-citizens  whose  homes 
look  out  upon  the  Pacific  know  more  than  do  the 
rest  of  us  about  the  check  upon  the  Yellow  Peril 
afforded  by  the  new  Australia  and  Canada  to 
which  they  are  sympathetically  allied  by  a  com- 


204         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

mon  unwillingness  to  admit  Asiatic  immigra- 
tion. The  realization  of  this  fact  is  slowly  but 
surely  laying  the  Yellow  Peril  bogey  in  the  very 
part  of  our  land  best  qualified  to  consider  it  and 
also  the  most  interested.  And  the  Japanese 
Government  is  doing  even  more  than  its  share 
to  eliminate  cause  for  misunderstanding,  as  we 
will  presently  show. 

Those  who  seek  to  arouse  white  audiences  by 
lurid  pictures  of  the  Yellow  Peril  love  especially 
to  dwell  upon  two  horrid  scenes — the  Japanese 
arming  and  leading  400,000,000  Chinese  in  a 
conquest  of  the  white  world,  and  scene  two — 
such  a  rapid  increase  of  Japanese  in  California 
as  will  soon  submerge  the  white  population.  As 
for  scene  one,  it  is  a  joke!  Fighting  has  been 
bred  out  of  the  Chinese  blood  during  a  series  of 
centuries.  Occasional  outbreaks  of  mob  violence, 
yes — but  intelligent  continuous  fighting,  no! 
The  Japanese  are  a  race  of  fighters,  but  the 
Chinese  are  not,  and  never  will  be.  Further- 
more, the  Chinese  distrust  and  dislike  the  Japa- 
nese even  more  than  they  trust  and  like  Ameri- 
cans. The  idea  of  a  huge  army  of  Chinese  is 
impossible,  except  on  faked  payrolls  (long  a 
profitable  and  popular  method  of  their  military 
system)  and  that  such  an  army,  if  raised,  could 
be  led  by  the  Japanese  against  America  is  a 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL   BOGEY        205 

wild  dream!  And  now  for  scene  two.  Appalling 
statistics  were  being  advanced  to  show  that  the 
few  thousand  Japanese  now  in  California,  plus 
the  wives  that  are  coming  over  to  them  from 
home,  will  increase  at  such  a  rate  as  to  Orientalize 
in  short  order  the  population  of  our  Pacific  Coast 
States.  Upon  this  subject  I  spoke  as  follows 
to  a  large  banquet  of  Japanese  in  Tokyo,  Nov- 
ember 19,  1919: 

"In  1905  the  sympathy  of  all  America  was 
with  Japan,  and  our  pockets  were  open  to  your 
loans.  In  this  connection  may  I  remark  that 
ours  is  the  first  nation  in  history  to  be  at  the 
same  time  the  greatest  reservoir  both  of  capital 
and  of  raw  materials.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  to- 
day the  American  sentiments  of  1905  are  altered, 
but  he  who  pretends  otherwise  is  no  true  cham- 
pion of  a  better  and  lasting  friendship  between 
us.  I  have  recently  come  from  a  three  months' 
study  of  these  misunderstandings  in  California, 
and  shall  venture  a  suggestion  to  ameliorate  the 
situation.  The  'Gentlemen's  Agreement'  was  a 
wise  diplomatic  device,  which  recognized  that 
Japanese  immigration  to  the  United  States  sets 
up  a  competition  between  our  labor  and  the 
Japanese  laborer  who  accepts  less  money  and 
longer  hours  than  our  men.  It  also  recognized 
that  this  economic  undercutting  of  the  American 


206         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

laborer  was  arousing  friction,  and  you  wisely 
undertook  to  check  it.  In  your  millions  of  fru- 
gal, industrious  laborers  lies  your  greatest  power 
to  conquer  the  markets  of  the  world.  But  every 
rose  has  a  thorn ! — and  your  ability  to  live  cheaper 
and  work  longer  than  Occidentals  is  the  thorn 
felt  by  American  labor  when  your  rose  is  trans- 
planted to  California.  Believe  me,  gentlemen, 
the  problem  surrounding  Japanese  immigration 
into  America  is  an  economic  and  not  a  racial  one. 
Here  is  a  proof.  When  I  was  in  California  some 
years  ago  so  bitter  was  the  feeling  there  against 
cheaper  living  Chinese  laborers,  that  it  was  not 
safe  for  Chinamen  to  walk  alone  at  night  in  cer- 
tain quarters  of  San  Francisco.  They  then  called 
it  racial  antipathy  and  not  economic  friction,  but, 
since  Chinese  immigration  has  been  suspended, 
and  therefore  the  economic  friction  removed, 
Chinamen  have  become  popular  in  California. 
You  meet  this  Chinese  immigration  question  just 
as  we  did,  for  you  do  not  allow  cheaper  living 
Chinese  or  Korean  labor  to  enter  Japan  to  com- 
pete with  your  people.  (Note:  It  is  not  many 
months  since  a  Japanese  mine-owner  contracted 
to  bring  about  25,000  Chinese  coolies  to  work  at 
his  mines  in  the  Yamaguchi-ken,  near  Shimono- 
seki,  in  the  west  of  Japan.  He  actually  brought 
in  2,000  of  these  Chinese,  but  his  application  for 


THE   YELLOW   PERIL    BOGEY        20? 

the  necessary  permission  covering  the  whole 
transaction  was  denied  by  the  local  authorities. 
He  appealed  that  decision  to  Tokyo,  but  it  was 
upheld,  and  he  had  to  ship  his  2,000  Chinese 
back  home,  and  the  venture  cost  him  over  65,000 
yen.  This  story  was  told  me  by  an  editor  of  a 
leading  Tokyo  newspaper).  There  is  no  prov- 
ince of  Japan  where  there  are  110,000  Chinese 
or  Korean  laborers  to  25,000  Japanese,  as  there 
are  110,000  Japanese  to  25,000  Americans  in 
Hawaii,  and  you  are  quite  right  thus  to  protect 
your  labor  from  undercutting.  There  is  no 
province  of  Japan  where  foreign  labor  is  increas- 
ing by  birth  or  otherwise  in  far  greater  propor- 
tion than  the  Japanese,  and  yet  that  is  true  of 
Japanese  foreign  labor  in  California.  Your 
protection  of  Japanese  labor  against  Chinese  or 
Korean  competition  leads  me  to  my  promised 
suggestion.  My  investigations  convince  me  that 
beyond  doubt  the  Japanese  Government  has 
loyally  lived  up  to  both  the  spirit  and  the  letter 
of  the  'Gentlemen's  Agreement,'  but  that  agree- 
men  ought  to  be  supplemented  by  a  'Ladies' 
Agreement,'  because  the  loyal  adherence  of  your 
Government  to  the  'Gentlemen's  Agreement'  is 
being  offset  by  the  numerous  'picture  brides' 
going  from  Japan  to  Japanese  laborers  in 
America.  Their  coming  imperils  our  relations 


208         THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

more  than  you  realize  and  for  reasons  difficult 
for  you  to  understand. 

"All  you  see  in  this  'picture  bride'  system  is 
a  proper  desire  of  your  men  abroad  to  get  wives 
from  home.  You  are  accustomed  to  marriages 
being  arranged  by  parents  or  friends,  and  there- 
fore cannot  grasp  how  the  'picture  bride'  system 
surprises  and  jars  upon  our  people.  It  isn't  a 
question  of  right  or  wrong,  but  an  affront  to 
a  long  prevailing  custom  of  our  country,  where 
we  are  as  greatly  attached  to  free  matrimonial 
choice  by  both  contracting  parties  themselves,  as 
you  are  to  your  reverence  for  ancestors.  Neither 
of  us  really  understands  how  strongly  the  other 
feels  in  these  regards.  Furthermore,  perhaps 
you  do  not  realize  that  since  these  'picture  brides' 
are  imported  by  Japanese  laborers,  they  assist 
their  husbands,  thus  becoming  Japanese  laborers 
themselves,  and  thus  offsetting  the  loyalty  of 
your  Government  to  the  'Gentlemen's  Agree- 
ment.' And  besides,  they  bear  many  more  chil- 
dren than  do  the  wives  of  their  American  neigh- 
bors, thus  constantly  reminding  them  of  the 
increasing  proportion  of  Japanese  to  Americans 
in  Hawaii,  which  brings  us  right  back  to  the 
economic  competition  again.  A  'Ladies'  Agree- 
ment' limiting  the  number  of  laborers'  wives 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY         209 

going  to  America  would  restore  the  situation  to 
the  wise  basis  reached  by  the  'Gentlemen's  Agree- 
ment.' The  lack  of  a  'Ladies'  Agreement'  per- 
mits economic  friction  to  increase,  with  a  certain 
result  that  none  of  us  cares  to  contemplate." 

Although  these  remarks  were  freely  published 
in  the  Japanese  press,  no  hostile  comment  ap- 
peared. On  December  18th,  one  month  later,  the 
Japanese  Ambassador  at  Washington  officially 
notified  our  State  Department  that  the  issuance 
of  passports  to  "picture  brides"  would  be  dis- 
continued. Thus  the  bottom  falls  out  of  the  chief 
Yellow  Peril  argument  in  California,  for  if  the 
female  of  the  species  is  thus  reduced  in  number, 
the  alleged  dangerous  increase  in  Japanese  birth- 
rate loses  its  danger,  and  the  "Gentlemen's 
Agreement"  plus  its  new  ally,  the  "Ladies' 
Agreement,"  together  provide  all  the  restraint 
upon  Japanese  immigration  that  a  reasonable 
American  laborer  can  ask.  The  Japanese  au- 
thorities, by  this  move,  as  friendly  as  it  is  saga- 
cious, have  completely  readjusted  the  difficult 
situation  in  California. 

So  much  for  California,  and  now  a  few  words 
about  the  situation  in  Hawaii,  where  110,000 
Japanese  overbalance  the  total  citizenship  of 
265,000,  of  which  only  25,000  are  white  Ameri- 


210         THE    YELLOW   PERIL    BOGEY 

cans.  Unfortunately,  the  Japanese  at  home  do 
not  understand  how  this  excessive  and  increas- 
ing foreign  element  upon  a  portion  of  American 
territory  is  misunderstood  abroad.  A  leading 
Japanese  daily,  the  Tokyo  Yamato,,  said  not 
long  ago:  "We  venture  to  advise  America  to 
adopt  the  principle  of  self-determination  in 
Hawaii.  While  addressing  this  advice  to  Amer- 
ica, we  urge  that  at  the  first  conference  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  Japan  should  bring  forward 
a  proposal  for  the  execution  of  the  principle  of 
self-determination  in  Hawaii.  This  proposal 
would  prove  the  acid  test  of  America's  so-called 
principle  of  justice  and  humanity."  The  recent 
plebiscites  in  territories  claimed  by  Denmark  and 
Germany  show  that  such  an  appeal  as  the 
Yamato  is  up  to  date,  and  that  the  preponder- 
ance of  Japanese  in  Hawaii  threatens  American 
sovereignty  there,  even  though  not  by  warlike 
means.  I  believe  that  a  Japanese  Government 
so  capable  of  timely  and  tactful  action  as  the 
present  one  can  be  counted  on  to  relieve  this 
situation.  However,  in  view  of  the  Yamato'a 
article,  it  is  urgent  that  it  receive  early  considera- 
tion at  their  hands. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  only  the  third 
class  of  Yellow  Peril  enthusiasts,  and  that  but 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY        211 

a  small  one — certain  American  demagogues. 
Demagogues  are  opportunists  and  float  with  the 
political  current.  So  soon  as  they  find  that  the 
average  voter  sees  that  the  possibility  of  a  dan- 
gerous military  combination  on  the  Pacific  of 
the  Germans  or  Russians,  or  both,  with  the 
Japanese  no  longer  exists,  that  neither  Germany 
nor  Russia  can  finance  any  Japanese  aggression, 
and  that  England's  completed  solidarity  with 
Australia  and  Canada  has  come  to  exceed  Lon- 
don's interest  in  the  Anglo-Japanese  alliance, 
then  the  demagogue  will  drop  the  Yellow  Peril 
as  a  means  of  exciting  audiences,  and  turn  to 
more  timely  subjects.  You  can  trust  a  dema- 
gogue, of  whatever  country,  to  sense  and  get  on 
board  of  current  topics  and  to  desert  those  of 
past  interest! 

This  book  has  carefully  eschewed  that  form  of 
pacifist  lullaby  which  certain  unwise  American 
friends  of  Japan  are  so  fond  of  singing,  and 
tries,  first  by  admitting  the  dread  of  a  Yellow 
Peril,  and  then  by  showing  the  existing  checks 
upon  it,  to  remove  any  reasonable  fear  thereof, 
and  therefore,  by  logical  and  not  by  hysterical 
methods,  to  clear  the  way  for  a  readjustment  of 
our  national  attitude  toward  Japan.  It  shows 
but  poor  judgment  to  deny  that  there  exist  many 
Japanese  military  jingoes  and  a  Yellow  Press, 


212          THE    YELLOW    PERIL    BOGEY 

and  that  military  success  and  territorial  expan- 
sion are  highly  popular  among  those  brave 
islanders.  But  they  are  more  than  offset  by 
other  elements  among  their  own  people,  and  they 
are  beginning  to  realize  it. 

In  the  last  analysis,  if  Japanese  jingoes, 
dwellers  in  a  land  which  Admiral  Mahan  said 
"comes  to  its  present  with  the  same  inheritance 
as  Germany  from  its  past,  of  the  submergence 
of  the  individual  in  the  mass,"  should  succeed  in 
stirring  up  their  people  against  the  white  dwell- 
ers about  the  Pacific,  what  chance  would  they 
have  against  lands  where  the  development  of 
individual  freedom  and  rights  as  a  basis  for 
advancing  the  Commonwealth  has  yielded  such, 
practical  results  as  in  our  land  and  in  the  British 
Empire  as  represented  by  Australia  and  Canada? 
Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  while  the  only  pos- 
sible source  of  the  Yellow  Peril  (certain  north- 
westerly islands  of  the  Pacific)  is  offset  by 
Anglo-Saxons  down  the  southern  half  of  the 
same  side  of  that  ocean  and  the  northern  half 
of  its  easterly  side,  the  other  or  southerly  half 
of  the  eastern  coastline  is  peopled  by  another 
white  race,  which  although  of  Latin,  and  not 
Anglo-Saxon  extraction,  would  lend  no  aid  in  a 
racial  struggle  between  yellow  and  white  races 
to  the  former.  No,  the  balance  against  any  pos- 


THE    YELLOW    PERIL   BOGEY        213 

sible  Yellow  Peril  is  so  great  as  entirely  to  re- 
move any  reasonable  dread  of  it,  and  therefore 
we  may  safely  and  promptly  proceed  to  a  better 
understanding  between  ourselves  and  the  pro- 
gressive Japanese. 


CHAPTER  IX 

A    PHILIPPINE   REPUBLIC? 

THE  matter  of  Philippine  independence  has 
been  much  complicated  of  late  by  the  fact  that 
the  Japanese,  as  a  result  of  secret  treaties  made 
in  1917  with  England,  France,  Italy  and  Russia, 
hold  the  Marshall  and  Caroline  islands  owned  by 
Germany  when  the  great  war  broke  out.  Our 
Far  Eastern  policy  must  recognize  this  new  fact 
and  confront  it.  The  location  of  these  islands, 
lying  as  they  do  across  our  line  of  communica- 
tion with  the  Philippines,  falls  within  the  spirit 
if  not  the  letter  of  the  valuable  "Lodge  Amend- 
ment" to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  adopted  in  July, 
1912,  by  the  United  States  Senate,  because  in 
the  language  thereof  it  "might  threaten  the  com- 
munications ...  of  the  United  States."  This 
Amendment  refers  to  places  in  the  American 
Continents,  but  it  is  nevertheless  certain  that 
"the  Government  of  the  United  States  could 
not  see,  without  grave  concern"  anything  which 
"might  threaten  the  communications  of  the 
United  States"  in  so  vital  a  link  as  that  connect- 

214 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  215 

ing  Manila  with  Hawaii.  This  encircling  of  the 
Philippines  by  Japan's  advance  in  that  quarter 
inspire0  inquiry  as  to  their  intentions,  and  means 
that  the  former's  independence  is  no  longer  an 
isolated  question  capable  of  separate  considera- 
tion and  treatment,  but  that  it  is  now  part  and 
parcel  of  the  Japanese  question,  which  is  the  next 
great  international  problem  demanding  adjust- 
ment. 

Filipinos  like  to  dismiss  this  danger  of  theirs 
by  telling  you  the  Japanese  don't  want  their 
lands,  and  yet,  when  the  protection  of  those 
lands  against  excessive  Japanese  purchases  by 
Philippine  legislative  acts  was  being  opposed  by 
our  State  Department  during  the  winter  of  1918- 
1919,  their  leader  and  Speaker  of  Assembly,  Mr. 
Osmeiia,  cabled  their  agent  in  Washington,  Mr. 
Quezon,  President  of  their  Senate,  that  it  was 
"absolutely  vital"  such  legislation  be  permitted. 
"Absolutely  vital"  means  that  there  was  danger 
from  these  purchases  by  Japanese,  and  this  was 
true  especially  in  Mindanao,  the  great  hemp 
centre.  And  yet  now  these  politicians  tell  you 
there  is  no  such  danger,  since  the  Japanese  do 
not  want  their  islands!  Why,  then,  was  legisla- 
tion to  keep  them  out  "vitally  necessary,"  and, 
further,  why  were  several  important  Japanese 
newspapers  seriously  discussing,  during  the  sum- 


216  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

mer  of  1919,  whether  the  United  States  would 
sell  them  the  Philippines  at  a  fair  price,  and 
wondering  what  a  fair  price  for  them  would  be? 
Both  Mr.  Omena  and  Mr.  Quezon  publicly  ex- 
pressed delight  when  on  December  8,  1919,  the 
cable  brought  the  news  to  Manila  that  the 
desired  legislation  had  become  a  law.  No,  they 
were  right  when  they  appraised  this  question  as 
a  vital  one  for  their  people.  It  is,  and  Philippine 
independence  has  become  for  America  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  Japanese  question,  and  can 
no  longer  be  considered  apart  from  it. 

But  in  order  to  get  a  fair  view  of  the  situation 
as  it  stands  to-day,  let  us  assume  that  our 
withdrawal  from  that  archipelago  is  not  part  of 
a  larger  problem,  and  consider  what  sort  of  a 
representative  republic  would  ensue  if  we  left 
them  without  our  protection. 

The  determined,  energetic  Anglo-Saxon,  rep- 
resented by  the  Australians  and  New  Zealand- 
ers,  controls  the  barrier  chain  of  islands  lying  off 
Asia  from  the  equator  southward,  and  the  virile, 
aggressive  Japanese  hold  the  northerly  part  of 
that  chain  down  as  far  south  as  the  Philippines, 
which  alone  are  inhabited  by  a  race  no  stronger 
than  the  original  mainlanders  of  the  Asian  con- 
tinent. This  weak  link  in  the  island  chain  has 
long  been  in  foreign  hands,  viz.,  first  the  Span- 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  217 

iards  and  then,  more  recently,  our  own.  We  are 
not  there  as  the  result  of  any  land-grabbing  ex- 
pedition, but  because  Admiral  Dewey  on  May  1, 
1898,  in  response  to  the  famous  order  to  seek  out 
and  destroy  the  Spanish  fleet,  thoroughly  obeyed 
his  instructions  and  put  us  in  such  complete 
possession  that  President  McKinley,  finding  no 
honorable  exit,  reluctantly  decided  the  following 
year  that  we  must  continue  in  charge  of  those 
distant  possessions.  Of  course,  we  need  suitable 
coal  and  oil  stations  for  our  navy  at  selected 
points  all  around  the  world,  but  we  must  all  ad- 
mit that  the  Philippine  question  as  a  whole  is 
for  us  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  search  for  an 
honorable  solution  of  a  serious  problem.  Dare 
we  make  them  independent,  and  then  leave  them 
to  their  fate,  or  what  shall  we  do?  None  of  us, 
in  the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  really  wants  great 
territory  so  far  from  home.  Naval  stations,  yes ; 
trade,  yes — but  not  huge  colonial  possessions, 
especially  in  a  climate  too  tropical  for  us  to  col- 
onize, and  too  vast  and  distant  for  us  to  defend. 
An  honorable  exit  would  suit  most  of  us,  but  its 
quest  has  certainly  been  complicated  by  Japan 
receiving  the  mandate  of  the  Caroline  and  Mar- 
shall Islands,  taken  over  by  her  from  the  Ger- 
mans during  the  late  war.  This  looks  like  a 
threat  against  our  continued  occupation  of  the 


218  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

Philippines  or  their  independence  if  we  retire. 
Not  only  do  those  islands  lie  athwart  our  line  of 
communication  between  the  Philippines  and  Ha- 
waii, but  also  the  Japanese  have  at  Jaluit,  in  the 
Marshalls,  a  naval  station  only  2,100  miles  from 
Pearl  Harbor,  our  great  naval  base  in  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands,  and  1,400  miles  nearer  thereto 
(and  therefore  to  California)  than  the  strong 
Japanese  navy  formerly  enjoyed.  So  long  as 
the  Japanese  retain  these  islands  they  are  not 
only  threatening  Hawaii,  but  are  also  serving 
notice  of  what  may  happen  to  the  Philippines 
soon  after  we  move  out,  if  we  leave  nothing 
behind  us  to  protect  their  independence  but  ten 
million  natives  of  scores  of  races  speaking  in- 
numerable languages,  and  with  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  their  number  educated.  They  will 
share  the  fate  of  Formosa,  Korea,  Manchuria, 
Shantung,  etc. — they  will  become  Japanese.  It 
would  probably  be  better  for  them  than  their 
independence.  But  this  book  is  not  written  for 
the  purpose  of  discussing  how  to  benefit  the 
Filipinos,  but  seeks,  from  a  pro-Japanese  angle, 
to  improve  relations  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States,  as  a  condition  precedent  to  a 
sound  Far  Eastern  policy.  And  what  effect 
upon  those  relations  would  be  had  by  the  pub- 
lication, some  fine  day  (and  that,  too,  an  early 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  219 

one!)  after  a  Utopian  policy  led  us  to  give  the 
Filipino  his  independence,  that,  one  or  more 
Japanese  traders  having  been  murdered  on 
some  island  of  the  Philippine  group,  the  Japa- 
nese navy  had  landed  marines  to  protect  her 
merchants  and  to  demand  reparation?  The 
Filipinos  could  not  assure  protection  to  any 
foreigner  anywhere  throughout  most  of  the 
archipelago,  so  there  the  world  would  be,  back 
in  a  somewhat  familiar  international  situation. 
The  Germans  took  all  of  Shantung  because  two 
missionaries  were  murdered  in  Kiachao — could 
one  really  blame  an  Oriental  nation  from  follow- 
ing the  illustrious  example  of  an  Occidental  one? 
And  what  would  our  people  say  to  this?  Per- 
haps the  reader  may  reply,  "They  would  say 
nothing,  because  the  Philippine  responsibility 
would  no  longer  be  ours."  But  is  that  really 
true?  It  is  more  than  doubtful.  The  anti- Japa- 
nese among  us  would  not  fail  to  seize  upon  this 
as  one  more  weapon  in  their  arsenal  of  attack 
upon  the  Island  Kingdom's  alleged  aggressive- 
ness, etc. 

How  do  the  Filipinos  feel  toward  the  Japa- 
nese, and  how  is  it  reciprocated?  During  my 
stay  in  Japan  I  was  interested  to  notice  from  the 
daily  newspapers  how  friendly  a  reception  was 
being  everywhere  accorded  to  a  party  of  Filipino 


220  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  Honorable  Sergio 
Osmena,  Speaker  of  the  Philippine  Assembly, 
Major  and  Mrs.  A.  C.  Torres,  the  Honorable 
Galicano  Apacible,  Secretary  of  Agriculture, 
etc.  I  saw  them  at  several  places,  and  the 
Major,  a  well-built  soldierly  figure,  always  wore 
his  American  uniform  of  the  Philippine  Na- 
tional Guard.  Not  only  were  they  of  course  en- 
tertained by  the  Speaker  of  the  Japanese  Lower 
House,  and  by  many  other  officials  in  Tokyo,  but 
also  they  were  given  other  and  more  striking 
proofs  of  friendly  esteem,  such  as  being  per- 
mitted to  penetrate  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  the 
sanctuary  of  lyeyasu's  gorgeous  mausolea  on  the 
pine-clad  hills  of  Nikko,  and  as  being  feted  by 
the  Governor  General  of  Korea,  where  every 
facility  was  given  them  for  seeing  the  beneficent 
results  of  Japanese  rule.  A  Japanese  Baron, 
who  recently  has  had  cause  to  dislike  America 
because  of  a  public  slight  officially  given  him, 
told  me  in  Tokyo  that  he  had  met  these  distin- 
guished Philippine  visitors,  and  that  they  had 
told  him  they  were  entirely  satisfied  with  Amer- 
ican control  of  their  islands.  I  could  not  help 
wondering  just  how  it  came  about  that  these 
Filipino  officials  happened  to  discuss  American 
control  with  a  Japanese,  and  especially  with  one 
known  to  have  received  unpleasant  treatment  at 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  221 

the  hands  of  the  American  Government!  It  is 
a  grievous  fault  to  be  over-curious,  but  one  must 
confess  to  a  wish  to  have  heard  all  of  that  par- 
ticular conversation.  This  visit  of  Mr.  Osmefia 
to  Japan  has  peculiar  interest  to  readers  of  Ka- 
law's  quaintly  partisan  "Self-Government  in  the 
Philippines,"  a  naive  argument  that  all  recent 
progress  and  improvement  there  is  due  solely  to 
the  Filipino  governing  class,  without  admitting 
that  this  politically  active  group  is  but  a  trifling 
minority  of  a  heterogeneous  population  incapa- 
ble of  national  assimilation.  He  points  out  that 
the  Assembly  has  come  to  be  considered  as 
peculiarly  the  political  expression  of  the  people's 
will,  and  its  Speaker  as  the  real  leader  of  all  the 
Filipinos.  This  would  give  more  significance  to 
the  Japanese  visit  of  Mr.  Osmena  and  to  his 
reception  there  than  would  appear  to  the  un- 
enlightened onlooker.  The  Manila  Times  of 
October  10,  1919,  speaking  editorially  of  a 
letter  written  home  by  Mr.  Osmefia  during  his 
tour  in  Japan  to  Mr.  Quezon,  President  of  the 
Senate,  reporting  that  he  "has  been  treated  with 
distinguished  courtesy  by  Japanese  officialdom," 
says  that  "the  trend  of  events  in  Asia  is  toward 
increasing  intimacy  between  Japan  and  these 
Islands.  .  .  .  As  the  Filipinos  expect  independ- 
ence, and  as  they  are  willing,  according  to  the 


222  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

statements  of  several  of  their  leading  statesmen, 
to  accept  it  without  any  previously  agreed  pro- 
tectorate by  the  United  States,  it  is  well  for  them 
to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations  with  the 
Japanese,  and  to  seek  in  return  sincere  friend- 
ship. .  .  .  While  the  Filipinos  themselves  are 
notable  for  their  courtesy  and  hospitality,  with- 
out design  or  fear,  the  horoscope  of  the  race  now 
cast  by  the  conjunction  of  political  bodies  bodes 
ominously  for  any  people  who  have  not  either  the 
friendship  of  the  needy  strong,  or  the  protection 
of  a  paternal  and  powerful  altruist."  This 
editorial  upon  Mr.  Osmena's  letter  home  was 
approvingly  quoted  in  a  Tokyo  newspaper  of 
October  30,  1919,  under  the  heading,  "Japanese 
may  use  Philippine  lands,"  and  therefore  some 
people  jumped  to  the  hasty  conclusion  that  be- 
cause Mr.  Osmeiia,  the  "boss"  of  the  Filipino 
political  machine,  was  accompanied  on  his  Japa- 
nese tour  by  the  Filipino  Secretary  of  Agricul- 
ture, he  was  preparing  to  play  off  an  alliance 
with  the  land-hungry  Japanese  against  American 
opponents  of  Philippine  independence.  But 
how  could  this  be  true? — for  Osmena,  before 
making  an  agreement  with  Japan  to  respect  Fili- 
pino independence,  would  doubtless  be  "given 
pause"  by  the  agreements  to  preserve  the  integ- 
rity of  China  which  Japan  made  with  France 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  223 

June  10,  1907,  with  Russia  July  30,  1907,  with 
the  United  States  November  30,  1908,  and  with 
Great  Britain  July  13,  1911. 

Besides,  although  Japanese  propaganda  pub- 
licists love  to  play  up  their  need  for  more  terri- 
tory into  which  their  crowded  home  population 
may  expand,  in  practice  they  only  want  to  go 
where  there  is  a  higher  standard  of  living  and 
wage  scale,  so  that  they  may  profit  by  the  differ- 
ence in  their  favor.  One  proof  of  this  is  that  al- 
though Korea,  the  size  of  the  British  Isles,  has 
only  18,000,000  inhabitants  as  against  47,000,000 
in  Great  Britain,  and  is  distant  but  eleven  hours 
from  Shimonoseki,  only  336,872  Japanese  (1918 
statistics)  have  availed  themselves  of  that  nearby 
opportunity  to  become  less  crowded.  The  Ko- 
reans can  underlive  the  Japanese  and  will  accept 
less  wages,  so  the  latter  do  not  care  to  compete 
with  him,  and  the  Filipino  has  the  same  advan- 
tages. What  is  true  of  Korea  holds  good  also 
in  Manchuria,  which,  although  under  Japanese 
control  and  not  densely  populated,  has  never- 
theless attracted  but  310,155  Japanese  (1918 
statistics )  from  their  homeland  nearby.  Crowd- 
ing of  population  does  not  necessitate  emigration, 
so  long  as  the  homeland  is  prosperous.  Take 
for  an  example  Germany,  a  country  whose  mili- 
tary clique  were  always  reaching  out  for  more 


22*  A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

colonial  territory  upon  precisely  this  same  plea  of 
excessive  crowding  of  a  rapidly  growing  popula- 
tion at  home.  What  light  do  cold-blooded  sta- 
tistics throw  upon  this  claim?  In  1880,  200,000 
Germans  emigrated,  but  in  1910,  although  the 
home  population  had  increased  during  those 
thirty  years  by  nearly  that  many  millions,  only 
20,000  Germans  left  their  homes  to  live  abroad, 
and  more  than  that  number  of  foreigners  came 
to  live  in  Germany,  thus  turning  it  from  an  emi- 
gration to  an  immigration  country.  There  was 
extensive  emigration  from  Germany  when  she 
had  only  40,000,000  people,  and  none  at  all  when 
she  had  70,000,000!  Why?  Because  the  im- 
proved conditions  of  life,  owing  to  her  great 
commercial  strides  during  those  three  decades, 
enabled  her  to  support  a  much  greater  popula- 
tion, and  not  only  kept  her  own  people  con- 
tented, but  attracted  others  from  outside. 

Japan  is  not  excessively  overpopulated.  Parts 
of  it  are  sparsely  populated,  and  one-third  of 
its  arable  land  is  not  cultivated.  In  Japan  there 
are  356  inhabitants  per  square  mile,  in  Germany 
there  are  310.  It  is  estimated  that  Belgium  has 
a  population  of  659  per  square  mile,  and  raises 
food  for  only  one-fifth  of  them,  which  is  less 
than  half  of  the  number  per  square  mile  for  which 
Germany  raises  food,  but  Japan  does  even  better. 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  225 

No,  density  of  population  does  not  necessarily 
call  for  more  territory  outside  one's  borders. 
England  has  370  per  square  mile,  but  her  emigra- 
tion is  less  than  it  was  when  she  had  far  fewer. 
Holland  has  474  per  square  miles  (second  only 
to  Belgium  among  European  countries)  but 
Hollanders  almost  never  emigrate.  Perhaps  of 
even  greater  significance  than  all  the  foregoing 
statistics  is  the  seldom  noticed  fact  that  the  four- 
teen million  Jews,  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
races,  have  no  separate  territory  exclusively 
their  own,  nor  do  most  of  them  seem  to  want  that 
sort  of  "a  place  in  the  sun."  No,  if  the  wheel  of 
Fate  should  ever  turn  over  the  Philippine  Is- 
lands to  the  Japanese,  they  will  go  there  as  a 
governing  class,  as  in  Korea  and  Formosa  and 
Manchuria,  and  not  as  settlers  seeking  escape 
from  overcrowding  at  home. 

No  such  large  piece  of  territory  anywhere 
around  the  Pacific  has  been  allowed  to  remain 
in  weak  hands,  and  a  Philippine  Republic  would 
be  the  weakest  of  all  governments,  nor  is  this 
difficult  to  prove.  We  have  been  learning  much 
lately  of  the  need  for  recognition  of  racial  con- 
centration, and  that  peoples  of  the  same  race 
are  entitled  to  separate  nationhood.  No  more 
Austro-Hungarian  combinations  are  desired,  cer- 
tain in  their  internal  inter-race  disputes  to  breed 


226  A   PHILIPPINE   REPUBLIC? 

disorders  difficult  to  confine  within  their  own 
borders.  And  yet  the  Philippine  Republic  would 
furnish  just  such  an  objectionable  medley  of 
many  languages,  plus  the  additional  unworkable 
feature  of  component  races  running  the  entire 
gamut  from  university-bred  Spanish-speaking 
politicians  down  through  innumerable  gradations 
to  the  Igorrote  head-hunting  savage.  A  Philip- 
pine Republic  unprotected  by  some  strong  Power 
would  not  last  long,  and,  indeed,  might  prove 
a  serious  menace  to  a  peaceful  Pacific.  And 
a  peaceful  Pacific  is  nothing  but  an  after-dinner 
orator's  dream  unless  there  be  laid  for  it  the 
enduring  foundation  of  better  Japanese-Ameri- 
can feeling,  surely  impossible  of  realization  if 
their  military  party  should  engineer  the  taking 
of  the  Philippine  Islands  after  we  got  out 
of  them.  Only  cowardly  dreamers  or  absent- 
minded,  distant-bodied  idealists  think  that  haul- 
ing down  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  Manila,  and 
hoisting  in  its  place  the  flag  of  a  heterogeneous 
and  undefended  Philippine  republic  would  afford 
a  guarantee  that  we  were  finally  through  with 
them.  It  was  necessary  to  free  Cuba  not  once, 
but  twice,  and  we  have  since  then  kept  out  of  the 
island.  It  was  a  splendid  thing  to  do — one  of 
history's  great  object  lessons  of  national  good 
faith.  But  Cuba  lies  very  near  us  and  very  far 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

from  so  land-hungry  a  Power  as  Japan.  The 
exact  opposite  is  the  case  of  the  Philippines — 
they  are  far  from  us,  and  form  nearby  links  of 
the  long  chain  of  islands  to  the  north  which 
Japan  already  holds.  It  is  only  a  few  hours 
steaming  from  Formosa  to  Luzon.  No,  Cuba 
cannot  fairly  be  used  as  argument  to  encourage 
a  departure  from  our  present  status  on  that  dis- 
tant island  barrier  chain.  We  ought  not  to  leave 
the  Filipino  to  his  own  defenseless  independence 
unless  and  until  he  is  fit  for  it,  and  also  some 
plan  is  devised  to  guarantee  it  to  him. 

In  order  to  consider  the  question  of  when  he 
will  be  fit  for  independence,  it  is  fair  to  approach 
it  from  the  angle  of  the  Chinese  Republic.  How 
is  a  republic  succeeding  in  that  nearby  Oriental 
land? 

The  Chinese  are  a  people  accustomed  to  change 
their  rulers  so  frequently  as  to  disgust  their  con- 
servative neighbors,  the  Japanese,  whose  present 
Imperial  dynasty  has  for  twenty-five  centuries 
uninterruptedly  ruled  Japan.  The  Chinese  have 
made  26  changes  during  the  last  4,000  years,  not 
only  substituting  one  native  dynasty  for  another, 
but  actually  replacing  Chinese  with  foreign 
Manchus  or  Mongolians  or  Tartars,  etc.,  and 
finally,  in  1911,  ending  up  with  what  is  called  a 
republic.  This  willingness  to  change  govern- 


228  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

mental  systems  ought  to  indicate  such  a  flexible 
and  adjustable  state  of  the  national  mind  as  to 
make  for  a  successful  republic,  but  what  is  the 
result? — What  is  the  Chinese  Republic  and  what 
is  happening  to  it?  Substitute  a  practical  for 
our  usual  sentimental  point  of  view  due  to  long 
continuing  cordial  relations  between  it  and  the 
United  States,  which  has  tried  in  vain  and  alone 
to  preserve  China's  territorial  integrity.  Let  us 
face  the  truth.  What  has  happened  to  China  ? — 
all  its  territory  is  already  apportioned  between 
various  European  Powers,  or  else  they  have  put 
upon  it  their  tabu  signs,  marking  out  their 
"spheres  of  influence,"  and  forbidding  alienation 
thereof  to  other  nations.  Last  of  all  is  the  ap- 
pearance of  Japan  as  a  substitute  in  Shantung 
for  Germany,  which  she  ousted  from  that  prov- 
ince. To  digress  for  a  moment, — how  in  the 
world  can  you  blame  Japan?  She  sees  all  the 
other  nations  grabbing  great  pieces  of  China, 
and  of  course,  in  self-defense,  she  also  grabs 
those  pieces  near  her  own  territories  to  prevent 
some  strong  European  nation  from  forestalling 
her.  To  this  extent  she  has  every  right  to  set 
up  a  super-Monroe  Doctrine  of  her  own.  I  say 
"super-Monroe  Doctrine"  because,  without  the 
qualification  "super,"  she  is  improperly  using  the 
term  Monroe  Doctrine.  In  no  manner  to-day  do 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  229 

Japan's  actions  in  the  Far  East  resemble  ours  in 
South  and  Central  America.  If  you  doubt  this, 
read  the  text  of  the  outrageous  21  demands  which 
she  served  upon  China  January  18,  1915.  It  is 
inconceivable  that  any  American  administration 
should  desire  or  attempt  to  treat  Argentina  or 
Brazil  as  Japan  has  Manchuria  and  Shantung. 
I  strongly  believe  that  Japan  has,  by  reason  of 
geographical  proximity,  certain  rights  to  especial 
consideration  in  the  Far  East  that  we  have  not, 
but  I  would  be  but  a  poor  friend  of  Japan  if  I 
applauded  an  attempt  on  her  part  to  employ 
the  altruistic  Monroe  Doctrine  as  a  camouflage 
phrase  for  certain  recently  exhibited  tendencies 
of  Japanese  militaristic  development. 

Well,  a  glance  at  the  map  reveals  what  has 
happened  to  a  large,  fairly  homogeneous  Chinese 
population,  seemingly,  by  a  common  written  lan- 
guage, literature,  habits,  traditions,  etc.,  suited 
to  form  a  strong  republic.  -Why  should  we 
expect  anything  better  to  happen  to  the  map  of 
the  Philippine  Islands,  once  our  flag  is  hauled 
down  and  an  unprotected  Philippine  Republic 
set  up?  As  contrasted  with  one  uninterrupted 
expanse  of  Chinese  territory,  with  provinces 
separated  by  no  impassible  natural  boundaries, 
we  have  the  Philippine  archipelago  consisting  of 
3,141  charted  islands.  Although  90%  of  its 


230  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

total  land  area  is  on  the  eleven  largest  islands, 
those  islands,  separated  by  wide  channels,  are 
themselves  subdivided  by  chains  of  mountains 
and  other  natural  obstacles  tending  to  keep  its 
many  races  isolated  and  apart  from  each  other. 
The  whole  group  has  a  land  surface  a  little  larger 
than  the  British  Isles,  and  the  chief  island,  Lu- 
zon, is  somewhat  larger  than  Pennsylvania.  Re- 
cent statistics  show  the  following  totals  for  the 
principal  races:  Visayan,  3,200,000;  Tagalog, 
1,500,000;  Ilocano,  803,000;  Bicol,  566,000; 
Pangasinan,  343,000;  Pampangan,  280,000; 
Cagayan,  160,000 ;  Zambolan,  49,000.  There  are 
numerous  subdivisions  of  the  above  races,  and 
scores  of  languages  and  religions  to  help  make 
"confusion  worse  confounded."  The  tribal  lan- 
guage variations  are  so  numerous  and  so  local 
that  a  day's  journey  on  foot  brings  one  away  from 
one  language  and  into  a  strange  one.  If  a  truly 
representative  republic  is  not  succeeding  on  the 
Chinese  mainland  with  everything  in  its  favor, 
what  chance  has  it  in  this  tangle  of  islands  where 
nature,  both  on  land  and  by  sea,  conspires  with 
a  multiplicity  of  languages,  races  and  religions 
to  prevent  homogeneity  or  cohesion? 

The  voting  statistics  of  the  Chinese  Republic 
show  less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  population  as 
participating  in  the  elections  of  what  are,  with 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  231 

unintentional  humor,  called  their  representatives. 
How  much  larger  percentage  of  the  Igorrotes, 
Moros,  Tagalogs,  Visayans,  Ilocanos,  etc.,  are 
able  intelligently  to  exercise  the  franchise?  Both 
those  alleged  republics  would  have  less  percent- 
age of  intelligent  votes  than  Mexico  has  had  dur- 
ing the  saddest  days  of  a  down-trodden  peonage. 
Anything  that  any  enemy  of  Mexico's  sover- 
eignty could  ever  allege  concerning  her  govern- 
ment as  being  by  an  oligarchy  of  a  small,  educated 
class  (the  so-called  cientificos)  would  be  true  to- 
morrow in  Manila  if  we  withdrew.  So  much  for 
a  Philippine  Republic's  future  as  viewed  by  any- 
one conveniently  near  to  a  map  of  China  as  it  is 
now  painted  over  with  European  and  Japanese 
"spheres  of  influence"  and  outright  appropria- 
tions. 

Let  us  see  how  the  Filipinos  are  shaping  up 
their  governmental  system  to  meet  the  difficulty 
caused  by  their  multiplicity  of  languages,  races 
and  religions.  Mr.  Quezon,  President  of  the 
Senate,  honored  me  with  a  luncheon  at  the 
Xacionalista  Club,  the  headquarters  of  the  party 
machine  which  runs  the  government  and  con- 
trols all  the  members  of  the  legislative  body  ex- 
cept four,  and  of  which  club  Mr.  Osmena, 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  is  President.  These 
two  gentlemen  called  my  attention  to  the  similar- 


232  A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

ity  of  racial  type  displayed  in  the  faces  of  the 
Cabinet  officers,  Judges  and  numerous  Senators 
and  Assemblymen  seated  around  the  tables,  all 
of  whom  spoke  fluent  Spanish,  and  many  of  them 
fair  English.  He  was  quite  right,  they  were  re- 
markably similar  in  type,  and  inquiry  revealed 
that  by  compliance  with  certain  residential  re- 
quirements, easy  to  meet,  there  was  nothing  to 
prevent  men  (selected  by  the  Nacionalista  par- 
ty!) who  spent  most  of  their  time  in  Manila, 
representing  constituencies  located  in  distant 
parts  of  the  archipelago.  In  other  words,  the 
Nacionalista  machine  resembles  an  English  party 
machine,  wjiich  decides  in  London  who  shall  be 
selected  as  its  candidates  to  represent  districts 
far  from  that  centre  of  government,  with  the 
result  that  many  of  them  are  really  Londoners, 
although  maintaining  political  residence  in  the 
constituency  they  represent  in  Parliament.  As 
a  result  of  the  operation  of  the  Jones  Bill,  which 
became  a  law  in  1916,  about  all  that  is  now  left 
of  American  government  in  the  Philippines  is 
the  Governor-General,  the  Vice-Governor-Gen- 
eral, the  Auditor  and  the  Vice-Auditor,  but  they 
control  the  Treasury,  and  the  Governor  retains 
a  salutary  veto  power.  Everything  else  has  been 
turned  over  to  the  Filipinos,  which  means  in 
plain  political  English  that  the  Nacionalista 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  233 

party,  from  its  headquarters  at  the  club  of  that 
name,  runs  everything  as  neatly  and  smoothly 
as  the  Boss  of  Tammany  Hall  runs  his  similarly 
close  corporation.  And  Mr.  Osmena,  or  his 
successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  Nacionalista 
political  group  of  Spanish  blood,  will  continue 
to  be  the  boss  of  the  Filipinos. 

And  what  has  happened  in  those  islands  since 
that  measure  of  self-government  has  been  given 
to  the  natives  and  taken  over  by  the  Nacional- 
istas?  Everything  has  gradually  dropped  off  in 
efficiency.  Before  we  went  there  it  was  a  land  of 
no  roads  and  no  postoffices.  We  built  fine  roads 
and  installed  an  excellent  postal  seryice.  Now 
the  once  splendid  automobile  roads  around 
Manila  have  lost  their  surface  and  are  showing 
signs  of  wear,  and  the  postal  service  is  being 
severely  criticized.  Almost  all  the  American 
schoolteachers  have  been  dismissed,  so  that  Eng- 
lish is  now  being  taught  to  the  children  by  Fili- 
pinos who  speak  it  imperfectly.  The  police  force 
and  fire  department  we  created  in  Manila  became 
remarkably  efficient  under  their  American  lead- 
ers, but  with  those  leaders  gone  both  forces  have 
deteriorated,  and  unpleasant  stories  of  graft  are 
current.  Manila  Harbor  is  an  important  one, 
and  is  visited  by  many  ships.  Under  Amer- 
ican management  the  business  of  this  port  was 


234.  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

promptly  handled.  We  anchored  just  outside 
the  breakwater  at  7:45  a.  m.,  on  a  perfect  day, 
and  no  other  ship  was  waiting  ahead  of  us  to 
delay  the  operations  of  the  Filipino  officials,  and 
yet  it  was  not  until  two  hours  and  five  minutes 
later  that  delays  between  perfunctory  official 
visitations  permitted  us  to  up-anchor  and  steam 
inside.  At  no  other  Pacific  port  did  we  en- 
counter such  dilatory  officialism. 

Mr.  Quezon  and  Mr.  Osmena,  at  the  luncheon 
just  described,  made  eloquent  speeches  in  Span- 
ish of  the  type  familiar  to  those  who  have  lived 
in  Latin- American  republics.  They  agreed  that 
their  party  was  unequivocally  committed  to  com- 
plete independence,  that  there  was  no  danger  of 
Japanese  interference  therewith  after  our  with- 
drawal, and  that  although  they  would  like  the 
friendly  support  of  America  in  the  future,  even 
without  it  they  were  willing  to  take  their  chances. 
Mr.  Quezon  said  that  all  Filipinos  believed  that 
Americans  had  become  so  interested  in  the 
Philippines  that  even  after  withdrawal  their  sup- 
port could  always  be  counted  on  if  necessary. 
In  my  brief  remarks  I  ventured  to  reply  that 
the  war  just  concluded  had  afforded  a  striking 
demonstration  of  the  superiority  of  interde- 
pendence as  illustrated  by  Australia,  Canada, 
India  and  Great  Britain,  over  the  independence 


£   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  235 

of  Belgium  and  Greece.  Also  it  seemed  my 
duty  to  point  out  that,  contrary  to  the  general 
belief  held  by  Spanish-speaking  peoples,  the 
Americans  are  really  as  proud  as  any  other  peo- 
ple, and  that  therefore,  if  upon  the  intimation 
that  our  room  was  better  than  our  company,  and, 
at  the  express  wish  of  the  Filipinos,  we  hauled 
down  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  their  archipelago, 
American  pride  would  prevent  its  going  there 
again,  even  to  protect  the  islands  from  a  control 
less  agreeable  than  ours.  Strange  to  say,  this 
point  of  view  seemed  never  to  have  struck  them, 
for  they  showed  their  surprise  in  no  uncertain 
manner,  and  later  Mr.  Quezon  and  several  others 
stated  they  had  never  heard  it  before.  Another 
American  present,  and  one  who  is  in  complete 
accord  with  a  policy  of  American  withdrawal, 
confirmed  my  statement,  which  still  further  sur- 
prised them.  As  I  looked  about  upon  the  seri- 
ous, intelligent  faces  of  this  group  that  control 
their  nation's  destiny,  it  was  impossible  to  refrain 
from  wondering  if  they  would  be  the  men  of 
whom  later  generations  would  say  "we  enjoyed, 
but  they  discarded,  the  close  friendship  of  one  of 
the  world's  greatest  powers!  Why  didn't  they 
follow  the  example  of  Canada  and  Australia  and 
prefer  the  secure  benefits  of  interdependence 


236  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

with  that  great  power  to  the  dangers  of  inde- 
pendence?" 

Well,  suppose  we  are  unwilling  to  turn  loose 
the  Filipino  lamb  unprotected  in  the  forest,  and 
further  suppose  that  we,  in  manly  fashion,  admit 
we  would  like  to  retire  to  our  own  continent, 
what  can  fairly  be  suggested  by  a  practical  man 
living  in  the  twentieth  century,  who  prefers  an 
honest  plan  that  will  work  to  sentimental  make- 
shifts that  only  breed  trouble?  The  Japanese 
are  now  a  great  factor  in  this  problem,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  they  like  frankness  on  the  part 
of  foreigners,  especially  if  first  convinced  they 
speak  with  friendly  intent,  and  for  this  reason  I 
made  bold  to  express  the  following  views  at  a 
luncheon  of  Japanese  given  in  Tokyo  during 
Christmas  week  of  1919: 

"The  hope  of  better  and  lasting  relations  be- 
tween our  two  countries,  so  pregnant  with  valu- 
able results  for  both  of  us,  depends  upon  some 
safe  and  sure  arrangement  for  the  future  of  the 
Philippine  Islands,  to  which,  when  they  are  ready 
for  it,  we  have  promised  independence.  If  and 
when  we  move  out,  it  seems  to  many  of  us  that 
it  would  not  be  long  before  Expansionists  among 
you  would  precipitate  some  move  inevitably  lead- 
ing to  your  moving  in.  If  that  were  done,  it 
would  take  more  than  one  generation  to  over- 


A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  237 

come  the  increased  estrangement  that  such  ac- 
tion would  create  between  you  and  us  who  have 
worked  so  hard  for  the  Filipinos.  Please  don't 
understand  me  as  one  of  those  international  busy- 
bodies  who  oppose  territorial  expansion  by  Ja- 
pan. I  believe  that  President  Roosevelt  was 
right  when  he  led  in  recognizing  your  annexation 
of  Korea,  and,  like  most  Americans,  I  was  glad 
you  defeated  Russia  and  ousted  her  from  Man- 
churia. May  I  venture  to  think  that  the  increase 
in  your  Siberian  forces  points  to  a  possible  per- 
manence of  your  power  in  that  chaos  of  gov- 
ernment, that  anarchy-distracted  region?  So 
clearly  has  Russia  recently  demonstrated  for  us 
all  the  danger  in  making  the  world  too  free  for 
democracy,  that  to-day  it  is  doubtful  if  your 
substituting  government  for  anarchy  in  Eastern 
Siberia  next  your  own  possessions  would  meet 
with  serious  opposition  abroad.  But  why  not 
seize  this  opportunity  to  readjust  your  relations 
with  America,  whose  friendship  is,  perhaps,  of 
some  value?  Expand,  if  you  like,  but  not  in 
the  direction  that  arouses  suspicion  in  America, 
proud  of  her  'labor  of  love'  in  modernizing  the 
Philippines.  Do  you  gentlemen  realize  that  in 
taking  the  Caroline  and  Marshall  islands  in  ac- 
cordance with  your  secret  agreements  of  1917 
with  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy  and  Russia 


238  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

(but  not  with  the  United  States,  more  concerned 
than  any  of  them),  you  have  cut  our  line  of  com- 
munications to  the  Philippines? — that  this  action 
is  a  geographical  threat  against  the  future  inde- 
pendence of  the  Philippines  because  obviously 
embracing  them  within  your  sphere  of  influence, 
and  that,  therefore,  your  taking  of  the  Carolines 
and  the  Marshalls  arms  anti-Japanese  critics  with 
an  opportunity  to  inject  their  virus  into  the 
Philippine  independence  question?  Are  those 
German  islands  worth  this  to  you?  Wouldn't 
you  rathei  have  Eastern  Siberia  plus  American 
friendship,  plus  the  business  cooperation  of  limit- 
less American  capital?  We  don't  want  the  Caro- 
lines and  Marshalls,  but  if  you  relinquish  them 
to  international  control  or  to  Australia  (an 
Anglo-Saxon  power)  it  would  wipe  out  at  one 
stroke  a  cause  of  grave  disquiet  to  those  who, 
like  myself,  are  vastly  more  interested  in  Japa- 
nese-American friendship  than  they  are  in  the 
Philippine  question.  After  such  a  forward- 
looking  move  on  your  part,  you,  Australia  and 
ourselves  could  enter  into  such  a  three-cornered 
guarantee  of  Philippine  independence  as  would 
more  surely  safeguard  the  future  peace  of  the 
Pacific  than  any  other  one  act." 

If  Japan  should  decide  to  relinquish  to  Aus- 
tralia, our  Anglo  -  Saxon  cousin,  the  Caroline 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  239 

and  Marshall  islands,  and  thereafter  Japan, 
Australia  and  the  United  States  should  unite  in 
jointly  guaranteeing  Philippine  independence, 
a  safe  solution  could  be  found  of  that  difficult 
problem,  which,  if  left  unsolved  (as  it  would  be 
if  the  Filipinos  were  granted  an  unprotected 
independence),  would  always  endanger  Japan- 
America  friendship.  There  is  no  doubt  that  such 
a  friendship  lies  at  the  very  root  of  peace  in  the 
Pacific. 

There  is  yet  another  business-like  solution  of 
the  Philippine  difficulty,  which,  when  launched 
by  me  December  30, 1915,  during  a  speech  before 
the  American  Society  of  International  Law  and 
three  affiliated  societies,  elicited  more  than  one 
hundred  favorable  editorial  comments  in  news- 
papers of  all  shades  of  political  thought.  That 
plan  was  for  an  exchange  of  those  distant  islands 
by  us  for  the  European  possessions  in  and  around 
the  Caribbean  Sea.  Though  the  Philippines  are 
far  from  us,  they  are  administratively  adjacent 
to  the  British  in  Hong  Kong  or  the  French  in 
Tonkin  or  the  Dutch  in  Borneo.  It  is  essential 
to  the  security  of  our  future  that  the  waters  wash- 
ing our  southern  coastline  become  a  Pan-Amer- 
ican lake,  entirely  freed  from  European  politics, 
or  the  conflicting  interests  of  those  peoples  living 
across  the  Atlantic.  Not  necessarily  an  Amer- 


240  A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

lean  lake,  as  some  writers  now  insist,  but  one 
whose  interests  are  entirely  controlled  by  our- 
selves and  our  sister  republics  to  the  south  of  us. 
Neither  they  nor  we  should  risk  any  future  Euro- 
pean conflicts  being  staged  so  unpleasantly  near 
our  shores  as  would  have  been  the  case  if,  for 
instance,  the  naval  battle  of  the  Falkland  Isles 
had  taken  place  off  British  Honduras,  so  near  to 
our  Panama  Canal. 

Since  my  suggestion  was  made,  our  Govern- 
ment has  most  wisely  purchased  the  Danish  West 
Indian  Islands,  so  that  the  only  powers  now  left 
to  deal  with  are  England,  France  and  Holland. 
England  owns  most  of  the  islands  in  those 
waters  and  also  British  Honduras  and  British 
Guiana.  None  of  those  possessions  are  profit- 
able ones,  and  the  results  of  her  colonial  policy 
in  her  Guiana  and  Honduras  holdings  are  in 
unpleasant  contrast  with  the  uniform  successes 
of  that  policy  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  In 
1895,  British  Guiana  would  have  precipitated  a 
rupture  of  our  friendship  with  Great  Britain  had 
not  President  Cleveland  handled  the  situation  so 
admirably.  French  Guiana  is  chiefly  known  for 
its  penal  settlements,  in  one  of  which  Dreyfus 
unjustly  languished  so  long.  The  French  have 
brought  many  Siamese  and  Chinese  coolies  into 
that  colony,  just  as  the  Hollanders  have  intro- 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  241 

duced  15,000  Javanese  into  her  Guiana,  both 
of  them  following  England's  example,  for  she 
transported  to  British  Guiana  over  125,000  East 
Indian  coolies.  Does  such  admixture  of  tropical 
Orientals  of  the  lowest  classes  improve  the  man- 
hood or  civilization  of  those  colonies?  or  was  it 
done  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  exploit  them 
for  their  European  owners?  Isn't  such  action  an 
affront  to  the  fundamentals  of  Pan- American- 
ism? It  certainly  is  in  flat  contradiction  to  the 
ethnological  policy  of  Argentina  and  the  United 
States,  and  for  that  matter,  of  both  Canada  and 
Australia  as  well.  How  many  miles  of  railroad 
have  these  European  masters  built  to  develop  the 
Guianas,  a  combined  territory  of  more  than  171,- 
000  square  miles,  or  about  the  size  of  Alabama, 
Georgia  and  Florida  put  together?  There  are 
less  than  200  miles  in  all  the  three  colonies  (none 
at  all  in  French  Guiana),  which  compares  un- 
favorably with  Venezuela's  600  miles  or  Colom- 
bia's 700  miles.  British  Honduras  has  less  than 
one-tenth  the  railway  mileage  of  her  neighbor, 
Honduras.  The  school  systems  in  the  three 
Guianas  are  either  far  below  the  average  of  the 
neighboring  Latin- American  republics,  or  do  not 
exist  at  all.  Venezuela,  next  door,  has  over  1,700 
schools,  while  Colombia,  next  beyond  to  the  west, 
has  over  5,000,  and  both  of  them  possess  ancient 


242  A   PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC? 

universities.  Neither  the  Dutch  islands  of  the 
Caribbean  nor  the  French  ones  are  proving 
profitable  colonies,  for  the  home  governments  are 
constantly  required  to  meet  large  deficits  in  their 
administration.  It  would  be  better  for  the  peo- 
ples of  all  those  European  possessions  if  they 
were  released  from  their  present  allegiance.  It 
would  free  us  from  any  more  dangers  to  our 
European  friendships,  like  the  British  Guiana 
incident  of  1895,  and  it  would,  by  our  payment 
for  their  release,  reduce  the  staggering  war  debt 
now  owed  us  by  England  and  France,  and  help 
Holland  to  meet  the  heavy  expense  incurred  by 
the  long-continued  mobilization  of  her  army  from 
1914  tiU  1919.  It  would,  therefore,  benefit  all 
concerned  in  or  affected  by  the  transaction,  and 
now  is  the  psychological  moment  to  arrange  it, 
when  Europe  owes  us  the  money,  and  it  would 
be  merely  a  matter  of  book-keeping  to  adjust  it. 
Probably  the  enactment  of  the  Jones  Law,  with 
its  recital  of  a  promised  independence,  has  so  far 
committed  our  country  to  that  policy  as  to  pre- 
clude our  trading  the  Philippine  Islands  to  Hol- 
land, France  and  England  for  their  Caribbean 
possessions.  But  whether  or  not  a  trade  of  the 
Philippines  be  involved,  and  even  if  it  must  be 
done  by  plain  outright  purchase,  the  Caribbean 
Sea  ought  now  and  without  delay  to  be  turned 


A    PHILIPPINE    REPUBLIC?  243 

into  a  Pan-American  lake,  by  freeing  the  Gui- 
anas  and  British  Honduras  from  European  dom- 
ination, and  by  hoisting  the  American  flag  over 
the  European-owned  islands  of  that  sea. 

To  ensure  peace  and  progress  in  the  Pacific, 
a  firm  friendship  and  cooperation  should  and 
must  be  established  between  Japan  and  ourselves, 
and  to  accomplish  this  end  there  is  necessary  the 
removal  of  that  stumbling  block,  the  Philippine 
problem.  For  this  reason  it  seems  best  to  take 
the  more  direct  of  the  two  business-like  routes  to 
that  desirable  end  by  refraining  from  opposition 
to  Japan's  expansion  northwesterly  (which,  in- 
deed, is  none  of  our  business!)  if  she  will  with- 
draw from  her  southeasterly  development  by 
transferring  the  Caroline  and  Marshall  islands 
to  international  control  or  Australia,  and  then, 
with  this  geographical  threat  to  peace  removed, 
all  three  of  us,  Japan,  Australia  and  the  United 
States,  unite  in  guaranteeing  independence  to  the 
Filipino.  That  ought  to  satisfy  all  four  parties 
concerned,  assure  peace  in  the  Pacific,  progress 
for  American  trade  in  cooperation  with  Japan, 
and  add  another  star  of  altruistic  achievement  to 
the  American  escutcheon. 


CHAPTER  X 

A   JAPANESE    POINT    OF  VIEW 

IN  the  study  of  every  question  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  learn  the  points  of  view 
entertained  by  all  sides,  and  especially  of  the 
extremists.  To  this  end  there  was  made  a  col- 
lection of  clippings  from  Japanese  newspapers 
during  the  last  six  months  of  1919  in  order  to 
learn  just  what  their  strongest  anti- American 
articles  were  saying.  From  this  collection  the 
following  one  has  been  selected  for  reproduction, 
because  it  seemed  the  most  fully  to  present  the 
anti- American  case,  and  also  because  of  the  na- 
tion-wide importance  of  the  newspaper  in  which 
it  appeared — the  Osaka  Mcdnichi,  which  printed 
it  November  12,  1919.  Osaka  is  the  centre  of 
the  modern  productivity  of  its  country,  a  bee- 
hive of  industry.  This  journal  is  not  only  most 
influential  in  that  progressive  city,  but  also  is 
widely  read  all  over  Japan,  as  I  was  informed 
by  a  Japanese  coal-mine  owner  of  Nagasaki 
(down  on  the  island  of  Kyushu,  in  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  Empire),  a  literary  man  of  Tokyo, 

244 


A    JAPANESE    POINT    OF    VIEW        245 

a  leading  ocean  navigator,  an  exporter,  etc. 
Read  this,  and  learn  what  is  nowadays  being  said 
of  us  in  Japan — let  us  follow  Bobbie  Burns'  ad- 
vice and  "see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us." 

"While  the  important  and  urgent  question  of 
promoting  and  perpetuating  the  harmony  of  hu- 
manity and  the  peace  of  the  world  is  receiving 
careful  attention,  it  is  regrettable  to  note  that 
Japanese-American  relations  have  been  growing 
in  gravity,  especially  because  the  tension  is  being 
intensified  by  the  racial  hatred  and  the  anti- 
Japanese  schemes  of  the  Americans. 

"One  cannot  forget  that  Japanese-American 
relations  were  once  so  harmonious  that  much  was 
said  about  it.  When  we  remember  those  good 
days,  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  as  if  we  lost  a 
precious  stone  or  to  have  the  same  feeling  as 
parents  who  lost  a  child  of  unusual  promise.  The 
present  straining  of  relations  between  Japan  and 
America  is  partly  due  to  the  excess  of  prosperity 
in  both  countries ;  it  seems  as  if  the  prosperity  of 
one  country  is  too  great  to  be  curbed  within  its 
borders,  and  is  going  to  get  into  collision  with  the 
prosperity  of  another  country.  The  situation  is 
not  tempered  by  fellow-feeling  nor  by  self-con- 
trol; on  the  contrary,  hatred  and  contempt  are 
predominant.  We  have  always  faced  America 
with  friendly  moderation  and  self-control,  but 


246       A   JAPANESE    POINT   OF   VIEW 

the  Americans  have  always  treated  us  with  arro- 
gance, coercion,  hatred  and  contempt.  Unless 
we  agree  to  sit  at  their  feet,  they  apparently  in- 
tend to  exclude  us  entirely,  and  to  reduce  us  to  a 
position  where  we  shall  no  more  be  able  to  pro- 
test against  inhumanity  and  injustice  than  beasts 
are.  In  spite  of  their  indignation  the  Japanese 
will  patiently  protest  against  the  American  atti- 
tude, and  while  preserving  self-control  on  their 
own  part  they  earnestly  hope  that  the  Americans 
will  reconsider  their  attitude  and  return  to  the 
path  of  reason  and  equity  for  the  sake  of  hu- 
manity's happiness  and  the  world's  peace. 

"History  shows,  however,  that  America's  atti- 
tude toward  Japan  has  been  aggressive,  insulting 
and  coercive  throughout.  (1)  When  Commo- 
dore Perry  visited  Japan,  we  benevolently  inter- 
preted his  visit  as  an  attempt  to  open  our  door 
to  the  world.  But  the  fact  that  there  were  no 
serious  developments  between  the  two  countries 
was  due  to  a  change  of  administration,  the  policy 
of  the  new  President  being  different  from  that  of 
his  predecessor.  The  total  intention  of  Perry's 
fleet  was  to  threaten  us  and  to  take  the  Okinawa 
islands  by  force  in  order  to  coerce  this  country 
if  we  did  not  obey  his  orders. 

"(2)  America  assisted  the  independence  plot 
in  Hawaii,  and  used  it  to  realize  the  annexation 


A   JAPANESE    POINT    OF   VIEW       247 

of  the  islands  by  America.  It  may  be  said  that 
this  action  on  the  part  of  America  embodied  the 
spirit  in  which  America  threatened  to  take  the 
Okinawa  Islands. 

"(3)  In  obtaining  Guam  and  the  Philippines 
in  the  American- Spanish  War,  America  secured 
another  stepping-stone  for  development  in  the 
Pacific  and  also  laid  the  foundation  of  her  activi- 
ties in  China.  On  the  other  hand,  this  state  of 
affairs  was  calculated  to  obstruct  the  southern 
development  of  Japan  and  to  impair  her  rela- 
tions with  China;  in  other  words,  to  hinder 
Japan's  activities  on  the  east,  west  and  south. 
At  that  time  Japanese-American  relations  were 
not  so  strained  as  yet.  Moreover,  the  Gentle- 
man's Agreement  and  the  Pacific  Agreement 
have  served  to  some  extent  as  palliatives. 

"(4)  Since  the  school-children's  question  arose 
in  California,  however,  America  has  openly  pro- 
jected various  anti- Japanese  plans. 

"  (5)  When  subsequently  the  Calif ornian  Leg- 
islature proposed  to  undermine  the  foundations 
of  Japanese  development  in  California  by  enact- 
ing a  new  land  law,  the  Japanese  could  but  rise 
in  indignation,  and  at  that  time  Japanese-Amer- 
ican diplomacy  assumed  a  profound  significance. 
The  spirit  of  friendship  toward  America,  how- 
ever, kept  the  Japanese  from  making  up  their 


248       A    JAPANESE    POINT    OF   VIEW 

minds  to  take  drastic  action.  While  the  issue  was 
left  undecided,  California  actually  attained  her 
object,  though  the  question  was  nominally  left 
pending.  The  Americans  are  elated,  but  every 
Japanese  is  indignant  at  a  procedure  which  ig- 
nored the  Constitutions  of  California  and  of  the 
United  States,  set  at  naught  treaty  obligations 
and  trampled  under  foot  the  laws  of  humanity. 

"America  took  further  steps  to  oppress  Japan. 
America  has  tried  (6)  to  alienate  China  from 
Japan  in  connection  with  the  question  of  China's 
participation  in  the  European  war;  (7)  to  oust 
Japan  from  investments-  in  China  and  to  obtain 
capitalistic  control  of  China;  (8)  to  harass  Ja- 
pan at  the  Peace  Conference,  to  prevent  Japan 
from  possessing  the  former  German  islands  in 
the  South  Pacific  by  proposing  mandatory  rule 
and  to  violate  the  Sino- Japanese  Agreement  and 
Japan's  understanding  with  Great  Britain  and 
France  regarding  the  disposal  of  Shantung;  (9) 
to  restrain  Japan's  movements  with  regard  to  the 
despatch  of  troops  to  Siberia  or  to  estrange 
the  relations  between  Japan  and  Russia;  (10) 
to  threaten  Japan  by  greatly  increasing  the 
strength  of  the  Pacific  squadron;  and  (11)  to 
assist  the  independence  agitation  in  Korea,  and 
(12)  the  anti-Japanese  boycott  in  China;  (13) 
America  has  abused  and  insulted  Japan  in  the 


A    JAPANESE    POINT    OF   VIEW       249 

course  of  debate  on  the  Peace  Treaty  with  Ger- 
many; (14)  with  regard  to  the  International 
Labor  Conference,  Mr.  Sherman  made  remarks 
exceedingly  insulting  to  Japan:  it  seems  as  if 
America  desires  to  arouse  Japan's  indignation 
in  order  to  make  war;  (15)  in  the  meantime  a 
new  immigration  bill  has  often  been  proposed  in 
the  Federal  Legislature  for  anti-Japanese  pur- 
poses, while  (16)  the  anti- Japanese  Calif  ornians 
are  striving  fundamentally  to  exclude  Japanese." 

The  Osaka  Mainichi  next  describes  the  re- 
cent measures  proposed  in  California,  and  then 
continues : 

"The  anti-Japanese  campaign  of  America  is 
not  confined  to  California  or  to  the  Repub- 
licans and  Progressivists  alone ;  it  seems  that  the 
movement  is  supported  throughout  the  country 
and  even  by  the  Democrats.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  some  Senator  who  opposed  the  Shantung 
amendment  said,  in  explaining  his  reason  for  the 
opposition,  that  Japan's  development  in  Shan- 
tung was  preferable  to  that  in  America. 

"We  must  be  indignant  at  the  attitude  of  the 
Americans  in  antagonizing  us  and  treating  us  as 
barbarians.  Their  actions  are  at  variance  with 
the  Japanese  -  American  Treaty  of  Commerce 
and  Navigation,  and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
League  of  Nations.  They  apparently  intend  to 


250        A    JAPANESE    POINT    OF    VIEW 

subject  us  to  discriminative  and  insulting  treat- 
ment, placing  us  below  the  inferior  peoples  of 
South  Europe  and  the  negroes.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  Americans  apparently  do  not  hesitate  to 
destroy  the  principle  of  justice  and  humanity  and 
to  violate  the  code  of  amity  and  friendship.  The 
question  at  stake  is  not  solely  the  undermining  of 
the  Japanese  interests  fostered  by  many  years  of 
labor  in  America.  How  are  the  Japanese  in 
America  going  to  save  the  situation?  How  will 
the  Japanese  Government  have  America  reflect 
on  her  doings  and  desist  from  doing  injustice? 

"The  situation  is  taking  a  serious  turn.  If  the 
limits  of  the  moderation,  self-control  and  patience 
of  the  Japanese  are  reached,  it  may  lead  to  ir- 
revocable consequences.  The  Americans  do  well 
to  remember  the  Japanese  saying:  'The  cornered 
mouse  bites  the  cat' ;  especially  because  America 
is  not  to  Japan  what  a  cat  is  to  a  mouse  driven 
to  a  corner  from  which  there  is  no  escape ;  rather 
the  relations  of  the  two  countries  resemble  those 
of  two  tigers  face  to  face  with  each  other.  More- 
over, the  fault  is  the  injustice  of  America.  The 
only  way  to  avoid  a  possible  calamity  is  for 
America  to  reflect  on  her  doings  and  rectify 
her  attitude." 

This  clipping  was  shown  to  several  Japanese 
individuals  of  different  types,  and  though  all 


A    JAPANESE    POINT   OF   VIEW       251 

politely  deprecated  the  publication  of  such  an 
article,  each  agreed  with  at  least  one  and  gener- 
ally several  of  the  counts  in  the  sweeping  indict- 
ment. Every  American  reader  will  realize  that 
not  all  these  counts  are  true,  but  the  point  is  that 
many  or  most  of  them  are  believed  to-day  by 
Japanese  readers,  who  are  encouraged  so  to  think 
by  many  newspapers,  not  only  of  the  "yellow 
press"  variety,  but  also  by  serious*ones  with  large 
followings,  like  the  Mainichi.  Of  course,  many 
of  these  articles  are  privately  fathered  by  mili- 
tary politicians,  seeking  to  stir  up  public  feeling 
so  that  their  Parliament  will  pass  large  army  and 
navy  appropriations,  just  as  the  Kaiser  used  to 
"rattle  the  sabre"  when  desirous  of  increasing  his 
army  or  navy.  Furthermore,  Japanese  milita- 
rists must  feel  that  they  are  beginning  to  lose 
ground  with  the  people,  prosperous  and  generally 
desirous  that  prosperity  continue  uninterrupted. 
As  the  Irishman  remarked  of  the  man  in  the 
treadmill,  the  militarists  are  running  as  fast  as 
they  can  to  keep  from  going  backward !  By  thus 
stirring  up  feeling  against  foreigners,  they  hope 
to  convince  readers  that  increasing  the  strength 
of  an  army  and  navy  is  a  necessity  and  not  a 
luxury. 

But  even  after  taking  these  facts  into  con- 
sideration and  making  due  allowance  therefor. 


252        A    JAPANESE    POINT    OF    VIEW 

there  remains  one  great  fact  underlying  all 
the  others — the  widespread  irritation  in  Japan 
against  our  attitude  toward  them,  as  they  inter- 
pret it. 

Unfortunately,  they  are  looking  at  us  from  a 
distance  through  a  telescope  whose  nearest  lens 
is  obscured  by  the  words  "California  Legisla- 
ture." They  live  in  a  closely  knit  empire  where 
no  local  legislatures  can  embarrass  the  policies 
of  the  Foreign  Office  at  Tokyo.  They  cannot 
grasp  our  system  of  sovereign  states,  any  more 
than  can  certain  of  our  state  legislatures,  impa- 
tient of  national  moves  (or  delays)  originating 
in  Washington.  Our  system  suits  our  people 
fairly  well  or  they  would  change  it,  and  although 
it  sometimes  handicaps  our  State  Department, 
handicaps  don't  necessarily  defeat  a  good  runner. 
The  reading  of  this  Mcumctd  article  tempts 
one  to  answer  it,  section  by  section,  and  the 
reader  is  advised  to  yield  to  this  temptation.  The 
more  that  thinking  Americans  consider  other 
folk's  thoughts  about  our  policies,  and  seek  an- 
swers to  their  criticisms  of  us,  the  sooner  will  we 
have  a  large  body  of  citizens  qualified  to  lead 
public  opinion  in  demanding  sensible  foreign 
policies. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   FIVE   STRIPES    OF    CHINA^S   FLAG 

THE  flag  of  the  Chinese  Republic  consists  of 
five  horizontal  stripes,  red,  yellow,  blue,  white 
and  black.  Among  the  Chinese  and  Japanese 
these  five  hues  are  considered  to  comprise  all  the 
colors  of  the  rainbow,  for  in  the  one  which  the 
Chinese  call  "ching"  is  included  blue,  green, 
purple,  and  all  their  shades.  The  so  -  called 
"five-colored"  porcelain  of  ancient  China,  thus 
interpreted,  therefore,  means  that  the  artist  used 
all  his  palette  in  its  coloring.  These  five  stripes 
on  the  Chinese  flag  represent  its  different  peo- 
ples, the  red  one  standing  for  those  of  the  origi- 
nal eighteen  provinces  of  China,  the  yellow  for 
the  Manchus,  the  blue  (or,  more  properly,  the 
"ching")  for  the  Mongolians,  the  white  for  the 
Thibetans,  and  the  black  for  folk  of  Chinese 
Turkestan. 

In  substituting  this  new  national  emblem  for 
the  old  flag  of  the  Chinese  Empire  which  dis- 
played a  great  dragon  with  hungry  jaws,  the 
Chinese  Republic  seems  to  an  onlooker  unwit- 

253 


254.  CHINA'S    FLAG 

tingly  to  admit  that  the  days  of  the  swallowing 
dragon  are  over,  and  have  been  succeeded  by  a 
division  of  their  land  into  strips,  symbolizing  the 
swallowing  by  five  foreign  powers,  England, 
France,  Russia,  Germany  and  Japan.  The  new 
banner  reminds  us  that  the  time  is  past  for 
academic  discussion  of  the  future  partitioning 
of  China — it  is  already  broken  up  either  into 
"spheres  of  influence"  or  else  into  outright  parti- 
tions. If  anyone  questions  this,  will  he  kindly 
point  out  any  considerable  block  of  Chinese  terri- 
tory which  has  not  already  been  seized  by  out- 
siders, or  marked  out  as  "a  sphere  of  influence," 
or  tabbed  by  some  one  Power  with  its  tabu  sign 
notifying  all  others  to  keep  their  hands  off! 
Where  is  there  a  province  of  China  without  a 
foreign  garrison,  or  which  she  could  alienate  to 
any  foreign  power  without  promptly  eliciting  a 
protest  from  one  or  more  of  the  other  interna- 
tional bandits?  The  United  States,  alone  of  all 
the  great  Powers,  has  not  taken  a  hand  in 
slicing  up  the  Chinese  cake.  We  have  grabbed 
no  piece  of  broken  China.  We  alone  have  torn 
no  strip  off  the  Chinese  flag.  The  real  slicing 
of  the  cake  began  way  back  in  1842,  when,  after 
winning  a  comic  opera  war  against  China,  Eng- 
land seized  Hongkong  (now  her  great  naval 
base  in  the  Far  East)  forced  the  opening  of 


CHINA'S    FLAG  255 

five  Chinese  ports,  obtained  the  right  to  trade 
generally,  and  to  establish  Consulates.  Right 
here,  at  the  beginning  of  the  game  of  grab,  the 
United  States  Government  put  itself  on  record 
by  officially  announcing  to  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment through  Caleb  Gushing  that  "we  do  not 
desire  any  portion  of  the  territory  of  China, 
nor  any  terms  or  conditions  whatever  which 
shall  be  otherwise  than  just  and  honorable  to 
China  as  well  as  to  the  United  States."  And 
to  this  proposition  we  have  consistently  and 
honestly  adhered.  And  yet  how  many  Ameri- 
cans know  that  all  through  the  war  we  kept 
a  whole  regiment  (the  15th  Infantry)  at  Tien- 
tsin, and  that  it  is  there  to-day?  In  1845  the 
British  took  Shanghai  and  also  Kowloon,  across 
the  harbor  from  Hongkong.  In  1858  to  1860 
Russia  set  the  fashion  for  large  scale  plun- 
dering by  helping  herself  to  all  the  land  north  of 
the  Amur  and  east  of  the  Ussuri  rivers,  a  million 
square  miles  with  six  hundred  miles  of  coast 
line.  In  1885  and  1886,  France,  after  brief  and 
inglorious  hostilities,  took  her  great  Tonkin  terri- 
tory in  the  south.  The  wars  by  which  England 
obtained  Hongkong  and  France  Tonkin  remind 
one  of  the  story  of  the  bruised  and  bleeding 
darky  who  when  lifted  out  of  the  ambulance 
upon  arrival  at  the  hospital  was  asked  if  he  had 


256  CHINA'S    FLAG 

been  in  a  fight.  "No,  sah,"  replied  he,  "I'se  been 
attending  a  massacre!"  These  two  wars  were 
very  little  ones,  with  even  less  glory;  the  loot, 
however,  was  excellent.  In  1890,  after  General 
Graham's  army  had  invaded  and  subdued  Thibet, 
that  portion  of  ancient  China  yielded  herself  by 
treaty  to  England's  advance,  which  was  broad- 
ened and  confirmed  by  their  trade  treaty  of 
1893. 

The  really  exhilarating  scramble  for  Chinese 
territory  took  place  from  1895  to  1898.  In 
the  former  year  France,  by  treaties  with  China 
(and  Siam  in  1883)  extended  her  former  hold- 
ings in  those  parts  by  a  territory  half  again 
as  large  as  France  herself,  with  a  population  of 
22,000,000.  She  now  rules  a  total  of  80,000,000 
Chinese.  In  that  same  year  Japan,  after  a  short 
war  with  China,  in  which  her  losses  were  negli- 
gible, demanded  Formosa,  the  Pescadores  islands 
and  the  great  Liao-Tung  peninsula  of  South 
Manchuria.  It  was  just  at  this  point  that  an 
element  of  humor  crept  into  the  tragedy  of 
China's  spoliation.  Learning  of  Japan's  de- 
mands, Russia,  Germany  and  France  united  in 
a  joint  note  to  Japan  declaring  that  it  would 
menace  international  peace  if  Japan  received  her 
South  Manchurian  demands.  Of  course,  Japan 
had  to  submit,  only  to  see  Wei-hai-wei  taken  by 


CHINA'S    FLAG  257 

England,  and  a  little  later  what  she  had  asked 
in  South  Manchuria  (and  more  too!)  by  Russia, 
but  oddly  enough,  without  injury  to  the  same 
international  peace  concerning  which  the  Euro- 
pean Powers  had  been  so  solicitous.  Amusing, 
wasn't  it! — but  what  about  Japan's  point  of 
view? — it  was  not  long  before  Russia  was  to  be 
rudely  enlightened  thereon!  But  before  discuss- 
ing Japan's  unexpected  jolt  to  Russia  let  us  get 
on  with  the  tearing  of  China  into  strips.  In  1896 
France  and  England  made  notable  advances  in 
the  southern  provinces  of  Yunnan  and  Szechuen 
respectively.  1897  and  1898  were  banner  years 
for  European  looters,  for  it  was  during  the 
former  that  England  got  more  land  on  the  north 
Burma  frontier,  France  (in  March)  served  her 
"non-alienation"  or  "hands  off"  notice  regarding 
the  large  island  province  of  Hainan,  while  in 
Xovember,  thanks  to  the  murder  of  two  German 
missionaries  in  Shantung,  Germany  obtained  her 
excuse  for  seizing  Kiaochao  Bay  together  with 
much  hinterland,  since  become  famous  under  its 
province  name  of  Shantung.  (The  Japanese 
believe  that  Shantung  was  Germany's  pay  for 
her  part  in  forcing  Japan's  retrocession  of  the 
LJao-Tung  peninsula!)  Whereupon  Russia,  "in 
compensation  for"  what  Germany  had  just 
obtained,  demanded  Port  Arthur!  That  phrase 


258  CHINA'S    FLAG 

"in  compensation  for"  is  really  delightfully 
comic,  if  you  only  stop  to  think  of  it.  One 
thief  steals  your  purse,  so  another  thief  clearly 
has  the  right,  "in  compensation  for"  what  the 
other  has  stolen,  to  receive  your  watch !  Really, 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  innocent  amusement  to 
be  derived  from  watching  the  moves  in  the  stran- 
gulation of  China,  assuming,  of  course,  that 
the  observer  be  not  Chinese!  February  llth, 
1898,  England  served  a  "non-alienation  to  other 
powers"  notice  regarding  the  entire  valley  of 
the  Yangtse  Kiang  river — the  heart  of  China 
and  commercially  its  most  valuable  section.  On 
April  10,  1898  (the  day  after  Germany  seized 
Kiaochao),  France  claimed  and  took  the  whole 
Bay  of  Kwang-chow  upon  the  same  terms  as 
Germany  got  Kiaochao,  and  furthermore  she 
followed  England's  lead  by  serving  one  of  the 
all-too-familiar  "non-alienation  to  other  powers" 
notices  concerning  all  Chinese  territory  lying 
south  of  that  covered  by  England's  similar  notice 
of  February  llth  blanketing  the  Yangtse  Val- 
ley, and  especially  protecting  the  provinces  just 
north  of  her  Tonkin.  April  26th,  Japan  did  the 
same  regarding  the  province  of  Fukien,  because, 
forsooth !  it  was  that  part  of  the  mainland  which 
fronted  her  island  of  Formosa,  90  miles  away 
across  the  sea.  Observe,  please,  that  there  is 


CHINA'S    FLAG  259 

honor  among  thieves.  Next  the  "in  compensa- 
tion for"  joke  was  sprung  once  more,  of  course, 
with  the  usual  success,  when  England,  "in  com- 
pensation for"  Russia's  "lease"  (another  humor- 
ous touch)  of  Port  Arthur  insisted  upon  having 
her  "lease"  of  Wei-hei-wai  extended  so  as  to  be 
coterminous  with  that  of  the  Russians  across  the 
way  at  Port  Arthur.  And  now  for  the  only 
surprise  in  the  whole  entertainment,  the  one  and 
only  grab  that  did  not  succeed, — Italy  demanded 
Sanmen  Bay  on  the  Chekiang  Coast,  and  was 
refused!  It  seems  incredible  that  Italy  should 
not  be  allowed  to  thrust  her  hand  into  the  inter- 
national grab-bag,  but  evidently,  whilst  five 
(England,  France,  Russia,  Germany  and  Ja- 
pan) "was  company,  six  was  a  crowd,"  to  para- 
phrase the  old  saying.  The  Portuguese  colony 
of  Macao  known  only  for  fantan  gambling  and 
opium  manufacture  is  too  unimportant  for  inclu- 
sion in  this  more  illustrious  syndicate.  In  pass- 
ing, it  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  this  1898 
grabbing  went  on  while  the  United  States  was 
occupied  with  the  Spanish  war!  1900  will  long 
be  remembered  as  the  year  of  the  Boxer  outbreak 
in  China,  the  march  of  the  six  allied  military 
commands  to  the  relief  of  their  Legations  in 
Peking,  the  three  hundred  million  tael  indemnity 
demanded  by  the  allied  powers,  the  definite  oc- 


260  CHINA'S    FLAG 

cupation  of  South  Manchuria  by  the  Russians, 
and  the  then  meaningless  punitive  devastations 
of  the  German  troops  under  definite  orders  from 
the  Kaiser  to  revive  and  recall  the  savagery  of 
their  ancestors  the  Huns.  Little  did  the  world 
then  understand  the  true  modern  meaning  of  the 
word  Hun,  now  deeply  graven  on  the  tomb- 
stone of  Germany's  hopes!  We  Americans  may 
properly  take  pride  in  recalling  that  we  alone 
returned  to  China  our  share  of  the  indemnity 
paid  us  ($20,000,000).  In  1905,  as  a  result  of 
Japan's  notable  victory  over  Russia,  she  replaced 
that  power  in  South  Manchuria,  and  subse- 
quently in  her  claims  over  Eastern  Inner  Mon- 
golia. The  mills  of  the  gods  ground  slowly,  but 
thus  after  ten  years'  wait  Japan  had  her  revenge 
for  Russia's  interference  in  her  spoils  of  the 
1895  victory  over  China.  During  all  the  fifteen 
years  following  1895  Japan,  always  competing 
with  Russia,  had  been  tightening  her  hold  upon 
Korea,  until  at  last,  August  29,  1910,  she  cast 
off  all  diplomatic  paraphrase  and  camouflage, 
deposed  the  Korean  emperor  and  formally  an- 
nexed his  country.  November  3,  1912,  after 
Outer  Mongolia  had  revolted  from  Chinese  sov- 
ereignty, the  revolt  was  formally  approved  by 
Russia  (who  doubtless  in  no  wise  encouraged  or 
assisted  therein!)  but  this  document  was  nothing 


CHINA'S    FLAG  261 

more  or  less  than  a  declaration  of  that  province 
passing  into  a  Russian  "sphere  of  influence," 
which  China,  by  her  treaty  with  Russia  of  No- 
vember 5,  1913,  duly  recognized.  August  15th, 
1914,  Japan  delivered  her  ultimatum  to  Ger- 
many to  surrender  to  her  before  September  15th, 
all  her  Shantung  holdings  "with  a  view  to  the 
eventual  restoration  of  the  same  to  China."  The 
date  of  that  eventuality  has  not  yet  been  set. 
January  18,  1915,  Japan  presented  her  21  de- 
mands upon  China,  which,  after  fruitless  remon- 
strance, were  accepted  May  8th,  but  with  formal 
announcement  by  China  that  it  was  done  under 
duress.  This  unwise  move  of  Japan's  is  now 
condemned  by  many  intelligent  Japanese,  among 
others  K.  K.  Kawakami,  their  able  protagonist, 
who  resides  in  San  Francisco,  and  publishes  his 
writings  in  English. 

There  are  other  chapters  in  this  grim  despoil- 
ing of  China,  but  the  foregoing  is  tragedy 
enough  for  the  average  fair-minded  onlooker. 
Taken  altogether,  it  affords  a  strange  picture  of 
the  systematic  dismemberment  of  a  great  Orien- 
tal people  as  taught  by  four  Christian  nations  of 
Europe,  and  learned  by  one  Oriental  pupil,  copy- 
ing its  Occidental  teachers  before  it  be  too  late 
and  white  races  occupy  too  much  nearby  terri- 
tory, thereby  endangering  her  seclusive  safety. 


262  CHINA'S    FLAG 

The  last  act  in  the  drama  was  the  reduction  of 
the  five  spoliators  of  China  to  four,  by  the  sub- 
stitution of  Japan  for  Germany  in  Shantung. 
What  will  be  the  final  outcome?  Will  the 
spoliators  drop  out  one  by  one  as  Germany  did, 
leaving  in  turn  their  spoliations  to  the  survivors? 
This  breaking-up  of  China  was  materially 
aided  by  the  marked  differences  existing  between 
the  types  of  Chinese  inhabiting  the  various  prov- 
inces. Then,  too,  the  lamentable  lack  of  roads 
or  any  other  form  of  intercommunication  except 
waterways  facilitated  piecemeal  spoliation.  Even 
close  to  so  great  a  centre  as  Canton,  the  only 
roads  are  footpaths  running  along  the  top  of 
dikes  separating  the  paddy  fields.  Although  in 
some  other  sections  rude  carts  are  possible,  the 
narrowness  of  the  average  road  has  caused  large 
wheelbarrows  (sometimes  assisted  by  a  sail)  gen- 
erally to  supersede  the  cart.  Up  in  the  north, 
in  the  loess  geological  formation  (provinces  of 
Chihli,  Shantung,  Honan,  Shansi  and  Shensi), 
the  earth  is  so  friable  that  the  narrow  roads  are 
worn  down  further  and  further  into  the  earth. 
In  Shantung  some  of  them  are  seventy  feet  be- 
low the  surface  of  the  ground;  the  effect  of  rain 
on  such  a  road  can  be  easily  imagined — it  cer- 
tainly does  not  encourage  travel  even  between 
neighboring  villages.  All  this  meant  the  gradual 


CHINA'S    FLAG  263 

development*  of  widely"  differing  customs  and 
habits,  as  well  as  contrasting  philosophies  and 
psychologies.  Within  the  confines  of  greater 
China  may  be  found  as  marked  racial  and 
thought  differentiations  as  those  differentiating 
,all  the  European  countries  from  the  North  Sea 
and  the  Baltic  down  to  the  Mediterranean.  In 
this  sense  one  may  consider  the  Gulf  of  Chihli 
or  the  ever-shifting  Hoang-ho  or  Yellow  River 
as  China's  Baltic,  and  the  Yangtse  Valley  or  the 
West  River  still  farther  south,  as  her  Mediter- 
ranean. Even  to-day,  when  the  different  sections 
of  China  are  being  connected  by  modern  im- 
provements in  communications,  South  Chinamen 
differ  from  the  northerners  as  greatly  as  do  the 
Latin  races  of  South  Europe  from  its  Teutonic 
peoples.  Even  far  back  in  history  these  marked 
divergencies  existed.  Five  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era  the  idealism  of  the  great  Chinese 
sage  Laotse  differed  widely  from  the  prosaic 
ethics  later  known  as  Confucianism,  which  came 
out  of  Shantung  in  the  north.  The  followers  of 
the  great  northerner,  Confucius,  learned  from  his 
writings  a  benevolent  communism,  which  con- 
trasts sharply  with  the  individualism  so  highly 
prized  in  South  China.  In  art  the  south  shows 
marked  differences  from  the  north.  As  early  as 
the  third  century,  A.D.,  painting  flourished  much 


264  CHINA'S    FLAG 

more  in  the  south  than  in  the  north,  where  sculp- 
ture and  architecture  were  more  highly  esteemed 
and  therefore  developed.  In  view  of  these  and 
other  dissimilarities,  it  is  remarkable  that  such 
differing  peoples  as  the  Chinese  of  the  various 
provinces  could  so  long  have  held  together,  and 
inertia  is  perhaps  the  best  explanation  therefor. 
Nevertheless,  these  differences  were  all  the  time 
militating  against  any  united  resistance  to  the 
gradual  breaking-up  which  land-grabbing  by 
foreigners  was  accomplishing. 

As  aff  ofrding  a  proof  of  Chinese  national  spirit, 
much  has  lately  been  said  and  written  of  China's 
boycott  of  Japanese  goods,  a  movement  in  which 
Chinese  college  and  high  school  students  are 
especially  active.  Trade  statistics  indicate  that 
it  has  proved  much  more  effective  in  South  China 
than  in  the  central  and  northern  sections.  Dur- 
ing October,  1919,  Japanese  exports  to  South 
China  fell  to  87,000  yen  from  the  1918  total 
(same  month)  of  611,000  yen.  The  Chinese 
newspapers  naturally  attempt  to  show  that  the 
boycott  has  seriously  affected  Japanese  trade, 
but  the  Osaka  Asahi  points  out  that  according 
to  the  monthly  trade  returns  of  the  Finance 
Department,  Japan's  exports  to  China  between 
January  and  August,  1919,  increased  by  191,- 
000,000  yen  over  the  same  period  of  1918,  thus 


CHINA'S    FLAG  265 

averaging  an  increase  of  23,900,000  per  month. 
Other  official  statistics,  made  up  in  American 
money,  report  that  the  first  ten  days  of  August, 
1919,  show  imports  from  China  to  Japan  of 
$3,886,500  as  compared  with  $2,293,500  for  the 
same  period  in  1918,  while  Japanese  exports  to 
China  for  those  same  ten  days  in  1918  were  $3,- 
450,500,  as  against  $4,504,500  in  1919,  divided 
as  follows:  to  Central  China,  $2,078,500;  to 
North  China,  $1,480,500;  to  Manchuria,  $904,500 
and  to  South  China  only  $41,000.  This  shows 
that  the  boycott  works  in  the  south,  but  in  the 
north,  even  though  the  people  are  nearer  to 
distrusted  Japan,  it  seems  to  have  little  effect 
in  restricting  Japanese  trade  expansion.  The 
traveller  in  China  sees  and  hears  a  great  deal 
about  the  boycott,  for  the  students  are  constantly 
parading  the  streets  with  music  and  banners, 
shouting  imprecations  against  merchants  sus- 
pected of  selling  Japanese  goods.  One  large 
seven-story  department  store  in  Canton  was  so 
effectively  boycotted  that  we  saw  almost  no  pur- 
chasers in  it,  and  yet  unprejudiced  Americans 
living  in  the  city  said  the  boycott  was  entirely  un- 
just, and  that  it  had  been  "engineered"  by  rival 
merchants.  After  seeing  a  number  of  these 
parades,  one  rather  gets  the  feeling  that  the  whole 
movement  is  but  a  pettish  outburst  against  a 


266  CHINA'S    FLAG 

stronger  race  by  one  whose  childish  behavior  con- 
fesses its  helplessness  to  employ  more  manly 
methods  of  national  protest. 

Some  European  writers  contend  that  the 
Chinese  are  not  capable  of  governing  them- 
selves? Is  this  true?  Are  the  Chinese  them- 
selves qualified  to  develop  good  government? 
What  answer  to  this  question  does  one  get  from 
their  history  or  from  a  visit  to  their  country? 
The  student  of  Chinese  self-government  finds 
unrolled  before  his  eyes  one  long  monotonous 
scroll  recording  misgovernment  badly  adminis- 
tered. Dishonesty  at  the  top  and  dishonesty  all 
the  way  down  to  the  smallest  official,  plus  an 
amazing  inefficiency.  During  the  days  of  the 
monarchy  many  foreign  friends  of  China  sighed 
for  a  republic,  because  the  imperial  officials  were 
so  notoriously  inept  and  crooked.  "Squeeze" 
prevailed  everywhere,  and  an  official  position  was 
valued  according  to  the  opportunity  it  gave  for 
getting  money  "on  the  side."  But  all  this  un- 
savory state  of  affairs  was  going  to  be  changed 
if  and  when  a  republic  was  set  up.  The  mon- 
archy fell,  a  republic  was  proclaimed,  and  the 
new  day  dawned!  And  what  has  the  daylight 
of  that  new  day  revealed? — graft  everywhere, 
just  as  before, — nothing  changed  but  the  identity 
of  the  grafters.  The  split  between  the  north  and 


CHINA'S   FLAG  267 

of  China  exists  and  continues  because  of 
the  ample  opportunities  it  affords  for  graft. 
The  matter  of  soldiers'  pay  necessitated  by  the 
strained  relations  between  the  two  sections  is 
worth  considering.  There  are  said  to  be  87,000 
troops  quartered  in  Canton  alone.  Of  course, 
they  are  perfectly  useless  there,  and  a  four  days' 
observation  of  their  appearance  confirms  one's 
conclusions  in  that  regard,  for  in  no  other  land 
could  one  see  such  an  agglomeration  of  weedy 
old  men  and  boys, — "all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men."  But  they  are  soldiers,  which  means  sol- 
diers' pay,  which  in  turn  means  that  somebody 
is  making  a  nice  profit  on  each  and  every  one  of 
them,  so  the  more  employed  the  more  profit ; — it 
is  a  wonder  there  are  not  more  than  87,000  of 
them!  One  of  their  Major  Generals  is  a  com- 
prador in  a  local  bank,  and  our  guide  (who,  when 
not  guiding,  runs  a  photograph  shop,  and  is  also 
manager  of  a  plumbing  establishment)  employed 
his  leisure  hours  as  drill  master  with  the  rank  of 
Major! 

Times  have  changed  little  (and  the  people 
not  at  all!)  since  Lord  Charles  Beresford  wrote 
in  1899  ("The  Break  Up  of  China"):  "As 
the  generals,  like  all  authorities  in  China,  only 
have  a  nominal  salary,  they  make  large  profits 
or  squeezes  during  their  commands.  In  order 


268  CHINA'S    FLAG 

to  report  an  instance,  I  questioned  one  of  those 
in  command  when  in  Peking.  He  informed 
me  that  he  commanded  10,000  men.  I  ascer- 
tained that  all  he  actually  commanded  was  800. 
His  method  is  common  to  China.  He  receives 
the  money  to  pay  and  feed  and  clothe  10,000 
men.  If  this  army  was  to  be  inspected,  he  hires 
coolies  at  200  cash  (5>^d.)  a  day  to  appear  on 
parade.  This  is  well  known  to  the  inspecting 
officer,  but  he  receives  a  douceur  to  report  that 
he  has  inspected  the  army  and  has  found  it  in 
perfect  order."  "With  the  exception  of  Yuan 
Shi  Kai's  army,  all  the  armies  above  referred  to 
(14)  have  little  or  no  firing  practice,  and  none 
of  them  have  any  organization  whatever  for 
transport.  It  seems  incredible,  but  some  of  the 
soldiers  are  still  practised  in  shooting  with  bows 
and  arrows  at  a  target.  When  at  Peking  I  saw 
them  practising  in  an  open  space  near  the  Ob- 
servatory. Hitting  the  target  is  a  detail  of  minor 
importance;  the  real  merit  consists  in  the  posi- 
tion or  attitude  of  the  bowman  when  discharging 
his  shaft."  "The  Consul  at  Wuchow  told  me 
that  during  the  late  riots  soldiers  were  armed 
with  every  sort  of  weapon — guns,  rifles  and 
blunderbusses.  They  also  carried  long  brass 
horns  and  gongs  and  other  instruments  to  make 
discordant  noises.  They  patrolled  the  streets  and 


CHINA'S   FLAG  269 

the  outside  of  the  town.    Many  were  totally  un- 
armed, and  carried  only  a  bird-cage  and  a  fan, 
being  known  as  soldiers  by  their  military  badge." 
At  Canton  one  gets  an  insight  into  the  present 
status  of  Chinese  naval  affairs.  The  West  River, 
in  its  reaches  above  Canton,  is  infested  with 
pirates,  and  even  the  boats  plying  downstream 
to  Hongkong  (a  seven  hours'  trip)  have  their 
decks  patrolled  by  guards  carrying  rifles.    Any 
decently  efficient  or  self-respecting  naval  force 
would   promptly  have   wiped   out   this   anach- 
ronistic  discredit  to   order   and  good   govern- 
ment, but  how  do  the  Chinese  treat  the  situation? 
Lying  in  the  river,  just  off  the  Bund  of  Canton 
and  convenient  to  the  long  rows  of  so-called 
"Flower  Boats"  (dives  of  every  sort)  are  a  num- 
ber of  river  gunboats  flying  the  Chinese  naval 
flag.    As  a  military  force  they  deserve  the  name 
of  "junk"  even  more  than  any  of  that  craft 
floating  by  them,  but  even  so  they  could  stop 
this   anachronistic  river-piracy  if  they   wished. 
Instead,  they  lie  comfortably  anchored  alongside 
Canton.    A  few  miles  down  the  river  at  Wham- 
poa  (once  a  favorite  anchorage  for  the  famous 
American  clipper  ships)  lie,  and  for  two  years 
have  laid,  three  fine  Chinese  battle  cruisers,  sent 
down  from  the  north  to  overawe  this  leading  city 
of  the  south,  the  largest  in  population  of  any  in 


270  CHINA'S    FLAG 

China.  Naval  pay  goes  on  and  the  boats  fly  the 
Chinese  flag,  so  that  is  all  that  is  necessary.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  Japanese  won  their  1895 
war  against  China  in  jig-time  and  with  small 
losses? 

So  much  for  China's  possibilities  in  the  manly 
art  of  self-defense,  and  now  what  about  that 
fundamental  pre-requisite  for  self-government — 
decency  and  honesty  of  the  individual  citizen? 
Some  one  has  said  that  a  nation  gets  a  govern- 
ment it  deserves,  but  no  better.  The  filth  of  the 
average  Chinaman  is  incredible.  After  one  has 
walked  through  several  of  their  villages,  where 
dirty  houses  are  thronged  with  unkempt  children, 
dirty  pigs  and  unwashed  adults,  or  has  visited 
a  couple  of  those  huddled  up,  never  cleansed 
rabbit-warrens  they  call  cities,  he  sighs  for  the 
neat  and  tidy  houses  of  Japan,  the  land  where 
even  the  poor  coolie  has  his  hot  bath  every  day. 
How  can  decency  get  a  fair  start  in  a  Chinese 
village  or  overcrowded  city?  Turning  to  the 
question  of  individual  honesty,  a  traveller  in 
China  hears  more  about  thieving,  and  reads  more 
about  it  in  the  papers  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world.  One's  effects  must  always  be  kept  locked 
up,  in  striking  contrast  to  Japan,  where  hotel 
rooms  may  be  safely  left  unlocked  without  fear 
of  loss.  Even  in  Hongkong,  admirably  gov- 


CHINA'S    FLAG  271 

erned  and  policed  by  the  British  as  it  is,  shops 
are  constantly  being  broken  into  by  the  Chinese, 
hats  are  snatched  from  passengers  in  jinrickshas, 
and  counterfeit  money,  so  common  in  China,  is 
constantly  passed  on  foreigners.  I  never  saw 
any  counterfeit  money  in  Japan,  but  was  caught 
twice  within  an  hour  after  landing  in  China,  and 
frequently  thereafter.  The  Hongkong  Post  of 
December  18,  1919,  summed  up  in  a  masterly 
editorial  a  general  indictment  against  the  Chinese 
for  robbery,  motor-car  hold-ups,  murder  of  gaol- 
keepers,  etc.  Villages  are  compactly  built  with 
no  straggling  houses,  for  fear  of  the  numerous 
robbers  constantly  abroad  in  the  land.  Nor  is 
thieving  confined  to  the  innumerable  and  omni- 
present poor,  for  whom  necessity  might  provide 
an  excuse.  The  month  before  we  visited  Can- 
ton, the  comprador  of  a  local  bank,  who  draws 
a  modest  salary,  entertained  at  dinner  over  4,000 
guests!  Of  course,  he  didn't  steal,  he  only 
"squeezed"!  And  yet  many  pro-Chinese  Ameri- 
can writers  continue  to  say  that  Japanese  banks 
employ  Chinese  compradors  because  they  are  so 
honest!  This  brings  us  to  the  crux  of  the  busi- 
ness and  political  problem  in  China, — public 
opinion  expects  everybody  in  power  to  "squeeze", 
and  nobody  objects  to  it,  for  each  hopes  to  be 
able  later  to  take  a  hand  in  the  game,  even  if  not 


272  CHINA'S    FLAG 

already  engaged  therein.  Of  course,  there  are 
honest  Chinamen,  many  of  them,  but  public 
opinion  countenances  the  "squeeze"  system,  and 
upon  such  a  public  opinion  good  government 
cannot  be  built.  Foreign  traders  in  Manchuria 
allege  that  this  system  of  demanding  "squeeze" 
by  the  Chinese  officials  is  being  employed  by 
the  Japanese  to  keep  shut  "the  Open  Door." 
They  say  that  agents  of  the  great  Mitsui  bank- 
ing concern  of  Tokyo  so  meet  this  "squeeze"  re- 
quirement in  self-defense  that  Japanese  business 
men,  clients  of  this  bank,  are  not  delayed  or 
mulcted  as  are  foreigners  not  so  equipped. 

Perhaps  the  worst  curse  of  China  to-day  is  its 
craze  for  gambling.  Everybody  does  it,  and  the 
consequence  is  that  many  who  have  means  be- 
come beggared,  and  the  poor  stay  poor.  Some 
of  that  hard  working  class,  the  chair-porters  of 
Canton  and  Hongkong,  make  as  high  as  twenty 
dollars  per  month,  which  is  much  for  such  frugal- 
living  folk,  but  it  all  goes  into  the  gambling 
houses.  And  how  is  the  new  republic  meeting 
this  national  evil  that  saps  the  nation's  honesty 
even  more  than  its  wealth?  For  a  while  it  was 
shut  down,  but  about  two  years  ago  the  gamblers 
were  allowed  to  recommence  operations,  so  that 
in  cities  like  Canton  gambling  is  now  wide  open. 
And  who  controlled  the  political  situation  in  that 


CHINA'S    FLAG  273 

city  when  so  vicious  a  revival  of  gambling  was 
permitted — some  survivor  of  the  old  imperial 
regime?  Not  at  all;  no  less  a  progressive  re- 
former than  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen,  a  prominent  fac- 
tor in  establishing  the  republic. 

When  the  Republic  first  came  in,  a  determined 
stand  was  taken  against  the  opium  traffic,  but 
laxity  and  worse  by  officials  of  the  Republic  has 
permitted  a  decided  recrudescence  in  the  trade, 
especially  in  the  provinces  of  Shensi,  Kiangsu 

(whose  capital  is  Nanking)  and  Kwei-chow.  It 
was  not  for  nothing  that  the  Chinese  have  long 
had  their  customs  service  under  the  financial 
supervision  of  a  Britisher.  The  fair-minded 
traveller,  even  after  a  short  stay  in  the  Celestial 
Republic,  can  hardly  reach  any  other  conclusion 
than  that  government  of  the  Chinese  by  the 
Chinese  will  always  produce  the  same  results  it 
has  produced  in  the  past  and  is  to-day  producing, 

—inefficient  government  of  the  squeezed  by  the 
squeezers — that  the  future  of  China  will  be  what 
the  future  of  China  always  has  been — only  a  lit- 
tle more  of  its  present ! 

Lest  the  shortness  of  my  stay  in  China  made 
too  hasty  my  conclusions  as  to  Chinese  character 
let  them  be  checked  up  against  public  statements 
by  Dr.  Charles  K.  Edmunds,  for  sixteen  years 
a  teacher  in  that  country,  and  by  Dr.  George  E. 


274  CHINA'S    FLAG 

Vincent,  President  of  the  Rockefeller  Founda- 
tion, who  spent  the  summer  of  1919  travelling 
all  over  the  country  from  Mukden  to  Canton 
and  from  Shanghai  to  Changsha  on  behalf  of 
the  magnificent  medical  benefactions  which  Mr. 
Rockefeller's  millions  are  there  bestowing.  Both 
Dr.  Edmunds  and  Dr.  Vincent  are  well  known 
leaders  of  scientific  thought  and  men  of  un- 
usually clear  vision,  and  both  are  enthusiastic  as 
to  China's  future.  But  what  do  they  say  of  its 
present?  In  Dr.  Edmunds'  "33,000  Miles  in 
China"  we  find  an  amazing  series  of  episodes 
showing  the  knavery  and  especially  the  thievery 
to  which  the  traveller  is  exposed  in  a  country  of 
pre-medieval  civilization  and  lack  of  communi- 
cations. Says  Dr.  Vincent  in  a  recently  pub- 
lished article,  "Chinese  Progress  in  Medicine, 
Schools  and  Politics":  "It  must  be  owned  that 
there  are  disconcerting  features  in  present-day 
Chinese  life.  'The  Chinese  lavishes  so  much 
loyalty  on  family,  community,  and  province  that 
he  has  none  left  for  the  nation',  says  a  clever 
returned  student  at  dinner.  'The  country  is 
practically  sold  out  now;  no  wonder  the  Peking 
politicians  are  getting  what  they  can,'  declares 
another.  'Oh,  we  always  absorb  any  invaders  in 
the  course  of  two  or  three  centuries'  is  the 
philosophic  dictum  of  a  serene  spectator  of  his 


CHINA'S    FLAG  275 

country's  danger.  In  a  company  of  intelligent, 
foreign-trained  young  Chinese,  some  of  them 
minor  Government  officials,  questions  about  the 
composition  of  the  present  legislative  bodies,  the 
qualifications  of  the  electors,  the  number  partici- 
pating in  the  voting  and  the  like,  elicit  amused 
replies  or  merely  provoke  gently  ironic  laughter. 
Certain  things  in  China  may  well  cause  appre- 
hension: the  division  between  North  and  South, 
which  are  terms  of  political  faith  rather  than  of 
geography;  large  armies  unpaid  for  months, 
living  on  the  countryside  and  terrorizing  towns 
and  cities;  bandits  now  and  then  committing 
depredations  within  a  few  miles  of  centres  like 
Peking  and  Canton;  a  government  vacillating 
between  the  demands  of  militarists  and  fear  of 
popular  uprisings;  revenues  needed  for  con- 
structive national  tasks  diverted  to  the  uses  of 
clamorous  generals  or  dissipated  in  administra- 
tion inefficient  or  worse;  the  development  of 
natural  resources  hindered  by  the  lack  of  public 
order  and  security;  internal  discord  and  weak- 
ness inviting  aggression  from  without." 

He  points  out  that  "there  are  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  hospitals  almost  exclusively  for 
Chinese  patients  established  and  maintained  by 
Protestant  missionaries  .  .  .  various  Catholic 
orders  offer  hospital  service,  generally  in  the 


276  CHINA'S    FLAG 

larger  centres."  Where  would  hygiene  in  China 
be  if  these  foreign-maintained  institutions  were 
suppressed  and  only  the  few  Chinese-conducted 
ones  left?  The  situation  would  be  even  more 
appalling  than  it  is  now.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant temples  in  the  largest  city  in  China 
(Canton)  is  devoted  to  the  God  of  Medicine.  It 
is  thronged  by  devotees  who  upon  a  small  pay- 
ment are  allowed  to  draw  lots  and  receive  the 
prescription  bearing  the  number  they  draw,  and 
this  prescription  they  have  filled  and  take  1  In  a 
similar  temple  in  Shanghai  they  paste  a  prayer 
on  the  portion  of  a  sacred  image  which  corre- 
sponds with  the  ache  in  the  suppliant's  anatomy. 
Please  notice  that  these  practices  obtain  in  im- 
portant and  improved  centres  of  Chinese  civili- 
zation and  not  merely  in  some  obscure  and 
untutored  mountain  village.  Dr.  Vincent  speaks 
of  young  Chinese  doctors  being  "trained  in  the 
United  States,  Europe  and  Japan.  In  the  last 
named  country  medical  education  of  an  excellent 
character  is  given  in  the  best  schools,  such  as 
that  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo."  He 
is  quite  right,  and  the  education  of  every  kind 
which  China  is  to-day  getting  from  foreigners 
(and  without  which  she  would  receive  almost 
none!)  is  everywhere  in  Japan  provided  by  the 
Japanese  themselves,  and  that  too  of  the  most 


CHINA'S    FLAG  277 

modern  type.  I  attended  over  half  a  dozen  lec- 
tures at  the  University  of  Kyoto,  in  Political 
Economy,  Administrative  Law,  advanced  use  of 
the  X-ray,  etc.,  and  was  amazed  at  the  high 
standard  of  education  there  displayed,  and  the 
deep  interest  and  careful  attention  of  the  stu- 
dents. Never  have  I  heard  a  more  reasoned  lec- 
ture on  English  Literature  than  one  there  given 
by  Dr.  Kuriagawa  on  Keats'  "Nightingale." 
A  comparison  between  the  foreign-given  educa- 
tion of  China  and  the  home-made  variety  in 
Japan  shows  all  the  difference  between  national 
ineptitude  and  its  extreme  reverse. 

Why  should  our  country  consider  itself  as 
especially  called  upon  to  act  as  protector  of 
China  against  foreign  aggression  any  more  than 
of  Egypt  or  Persia  or  the  Balkans?  And  yet 
some  of  our  statesmen  would  have  us  believe  that 
it  is  our  duty  so  to  do,  which  means  and  will 
mean  incessant  friction  with  one  or  other  of  the 
five  powers  already  possessing  territory  origi- 
nally Chinese.  Ought  not  our  foreign  policy  in 
this  regard  to  be  clarified  and  made  to  square 
with  the  stay-at-home-and-mind-your-own-busi- 
ness  dictum  of  our  justly  venerated  Monroe 
Doctrine?  Is  it  logical  to  support  that  Doc- 
trine on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Pacific  and 
infringe  its  principles  on  the  western  side?  But 


278  CHINA'S    FLAG 

isn't  there  possible  some  middle-of-the-road  plan 
between  the  discouraging  inefficiency  and  cor- 
ruption of  a  Chinese-run  government  and  for- 
eigners' tearing-up  of  her  land  into  as  many 
strips  as  her  flag  has  stripes?  The  great  loans 
(Millard  says  four  hundred  million  dollars) 
which  Japanese  bankers  have  recently  poured 
into  China  with  studied  carelessness  as  to  their 
useful  application  shows  that  Chinese  corruption 
must  be  headed  off  at  the  source  of  the  stream. 
Loans  to  such  officials  should  only  be  made  under 
supervision  of  their  expenditure,  preferably  by 
an  international  control.  In  this  way  no  one 
country  or  group  will  be  tempted  territorially 
to  foreclose  on  mortgages  obtained  for  money 
wasted  or  stolen  by  Chinese  officials.  How  this 
can  be  worked  out  it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  the 
best  plan  yet  advanced  is  the  foreign  loan  con- 
sortium now  under  negotiation,  which  essentially 
is  but  the  logical  outcome  of  Secretary  Knox's 
admirable  suggestion  for  the  neutralization  of 
the  Manchurian  railways,  which,  if  it  served  no 
other  purpose,  at  least  proved  the  non-existence 
of  the  much  touted  Open  Door  in  China.  Inter- 
national control  of  the  Chinese  customs  works 
admirably,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  fear  that 
if  such  a  system  were  extended,  the  extension 
would  not  function  equally  well. 


CHINA'S   FLAG  279 

The  whole  Chinese  problem  has  reached  such 
an  acute  stage  that  it  seems  necessary  either 
regretfully  to  admit  that  it  is  too  late  or  imprac- 
ticable to  save  their  sovereignty  for  the  Chinese 
or  else  to  show  our  prompt  willingness  to  take  a 
definite  and  decided  stand  in  the  matter.  Amer- 
ica must  "put  up  or  shut  up!"  She  must  "put 
up"  by  contributing  her  share  in  money  toward 
an  international  consortium  which  will  so  control 
all  China's  security  for  loans  as  to  make  impos- 
sible the  control  of  any  slice  of  her  territorial 
sovereignty  by  an  unscrupulous  lender,  be  he  an 
individual  or  a  nation.  Failing  this  willingness 
to  "put  up,"  America  must  "shut  up,"  which  is 
to  say  she  must  cease  her  "policy  of  pin-pricks," 
—of  criticizing  what  Japan  or  any  other  power 
is  doing  to  push  its  commercial  or  other  interests 
in  China. 

But  whatever  else  we  do  or  don't  do,  there  is 
need  for  definite  assurance  by  our  government 
of  backing  to  such  of  our  business  men  as  un- 
dertake proper  ventures  in  China.  Not  long 
ago  it  was  the  fashion  to  abuse  fair  govern- 
ment support  of  its  nationals  abroad — the  critics 
called  it  "dollar  diplomacy" — but  I  for  one  earn- 
estly believe  that  the  American  business  man 
deserves  support  from  home  when  his  American 
dollar  is  invested  abroad.  A  while  ago  this  was 


280  CHINA'S    FLAG 

an  academic  question,  but  so  great  has  grown  our 
profit  balance  that  now  American  capital  must 
seek  outlet  abroad,  and  he  who  denies  it  proper 
protection  is  no  true  American.  It  was  in  just 
such  a  manly  manner  that  the  British  Union 
Jack  increased  its  prestige  by  protecting  that  of 
its  commerce  in  foreign  fields.  Our  progressive 
business  men  deserve  as  well  of  us  as  does  the 
honest  British  trader  of  his  own  government,  and 
it  is  a  safe  prediction  that  the  American  is  going 
to  get  it. 

As  for  the  famous  and  frequently  discussed 
Open  Door  in  China,  what  of  it?  It  has  never 
existed,  does  not  to-day  exist,  and  never  will  ex- 
ist except  in  such  parts  as  are  completely  under 
the  control  of  an  international  consortium.  In- 
stead of  an  Open  Door,  China  possesses  a  series 
of  Side  Doors,  or  "Family  Entrances,"  difficult 
to  enter  save  by  merchants  belonging  to  the  com- 
mercial family  of  the  foreign  power  dominating 
that  district.  Japan  has  such  a  side  door  into 
Manchuria,  and  it  would  be  more  profitable  to 
American  commerce  to  enjoy  such  a  50-50  ad- 
mission to  that  side-door  as  financial  collabora- 
tion with  Japanese  would  offer,  than  a  really 
Open  Door  could  afford. 

It  is  not  too  late  to  keep  China's  flag  intact, 
but  it  can  only  be  done  by  a  definite  international 


CHINA'S    FLAG  281 

act,  something  similar  to  the  foreign  loan  con- 
sortium now  under  consideration.  A  sense  of 
fairness  to  China  demands  that  something  be 
done,  and  done  quickly,  or  it  is  too  late,  and 
China  partitioned  beyond  remedy! 


CHAPTER  XII 

AND    WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA? 

AFTER  some  months'  study  of  the  international 
balance  around  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  conviction 
becomes  irresistible  that  the  war's  readjustments 
have  been  almost  as  radical  there  as  in  Europe. 
In  no  particular  has  this  change  of  condition  been 
evidenced  more  strikingly  than  by  Australia's 
new  position  and  influence  within  the  British 
Empire,  a  change  that  is  due  chiefly  to  her  splen- 
did part  in  the  war,  but  also  in  some  measure  to 
the  North  Sea  being  cleared  of  the  German 
Navy,  and  therefore  no  longer  necessitating  a 
protective  concentration  there  of  British  naval 
forces.  Australasia,  and  also  Canada,  will  have 
vastly  more  weight  than  ever  before  in  British 
Imperial  Councils,  especially  in  the  disposition 
of  their  naval  forces  in  the  Pacific,  but  it  will  be 
Australia  that  will  both  lead  and  have  the  final 
say  upon  its  policy.  A  study  of  this  new  inter- 
national "outlook"  is  most  interesting  for  the 
United  States,  if  for  no  other  reason  because  it 

282 


AND   WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA?         283 

touches  our  relations  with  Japan,  and  an  im- 
proved understanding  between  that  Empire  and 
our  Republic  is  of  the  first  importance  not  only 
for  both  of  us  but  also  for  the  peace  of  all  the 
vast  Pacific  region.  Besides,  it  is  difficult  to 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  Pacific  question  is 
the  next  great  one  to  come  before  the  nations. 
In  1852  that  far-seeing  Secretary  of  State, 
William  H.  Seward,  said:  "The  Pacific  Ocean, 
its  shores,  its  islands,  and  the  vast  regions  beyond 
will  become  the  chief  theatre  of  events  in  the 
world's  great  Hereafter."  We  sometimes  forget 
that  its  mighty  expanse  covers  one  quarter  of  the 
whole  globe,  and  that  it  contains  one  half  of  the 
globe's  entire  water  surface — its  problems  are 
certainly  no  small  ones. 

A  better  understanding  of  the  significance  of 
post-war  Australia  and  New  Zealand  will  help 
us  to  find  our  way  to  more  comfortable  relations 
with  the  Japanese,  for  it  will  reveal  how  materi- 
ally the  solution  of  the  old  Pacific  problem  has 
been  advanced  by  the  world  war.  It  would  be  a 
grim  revenge  upon  that  arch  disturber  of  inter- 
national peace,  the  Hun,  if  the  hideous  world 
calamity  precipitated  by  his  arrogant  ambition 
can  be  shown  to  have  effected  an  automatic  elimi- 
nation of  war-provoking  possibilities  around  the 
Pacific.  Fancy  the  Hun  involuntarily  assuring 


284.         AND    WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA? 

peace  to  the  Pacific! — a  most  useful  revenge  in- 
deed for  both  Americans  and  Japanese ! 

One  cannot  travel  extensively  in  those  waters 
without  becoming  impressed  by  this  striking 
change  from  pre-war  to  present  conditions,  and 
chiefly  as  exemplified  by  the  new  light  in  which 
Australia  appears  before  the  whole  world,  and 
especially  should  to  us  Americans.  The  resolute 
position  maintained  at  Versailles  by  her  Prime 
Minister,  Hughes,  typified  the  new  Power  which 
has  arisen  under  the  Southern  Cross — a  Power 
which,  after  demonstrating  military  efficiency  to 
a  surprising  degree,  knew  definitely  both  what 
it  needed,  and  what  it  must  prevent,  and  set  an 
example  both  to  us  and  the  Japanese  of  honest 
frankness  and  sturdy  persistence. 

For  the  past  five  years  America's  eyes — men- 
tal as  well  as  physical — have  been  turned  east- 
ward so  steadily  as  temporarily  to  lose  sight  of 
Pacific  Ocean  affairs.  Now  that  the  war  has 
ended,  leaving  us  honorably  free  again  to  con- 
sider our  own  interests,  we  are  beginning  to 
realize  how  materially  the  struggle  in  Europe 
has  readjusted  the  international  status  around 
about  that  vast  body  of  water.  But  how  have 
these  changes  smoothed  away  certain  dangerous 
tendencies  which  were  there  beginning  to  menace 
that  peace  for  which  we  long,  and  for  which  we 


AND   WHAT   OF   AUSTRALIA?         285 

willingly  fought  with  all  our  might?  In  the  first 
place,  Russia,  as  an  ever-advancing  and  increas- 
ingly dangerous  autocracy,  has  disappeared  from 
the  problem.  As  for  Germany,  what  a  change! 
In  1914  the  Kaiser,  still  uncurbed,  was  absorbing 
South  Sea  Islands  and  exploiting  their  copra 
possibilities,  preliminary  to  his  next  great  move 
of  swallowing  Holland  so  as  to  acquire  not  only 
her  North  Sea  harbors,  but  also  her  priceless 
East  Indian  islands  with  their  50,000,000  inhabi- 
tants and  natural  riches  which,  even  under  easy- 
going Dutch  colonial  methods,  were  yielding 
fortune  after  fortune.  So  much  were  the  rest  of 
us  engaged  in  discussing  the  Alsace-Lorraine 
question,  the  Balkan,  and  all  those  other  dear 
old  European  problems  (without  which  sundry 
magazine  writers  would  have  starved,  and  For- 
eign Office  clerks  of  many  capitals  lost  employ- 
ment!) that  we  had  forgotten  all  about  that  great 
world  prize,  the  Dutch  islands  of  Java,  Sumatra, 
etc.,  whose  seizure  Treitschke  was  openly  advo- 
cating. But  Australia  hadn't !  The  change  from 
the  Kaiser  in  1914  to  his  standing  in  1919 
shows  a  transformation  difficult  for  anyone  but 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  to  realize! 

To  grasp  how  completely  the  World  War 
has  readjusted  the  Pacific  Ocean  problem,  let 
us  finish  this  review  of  its  pre-war  status.  The 


286         AND    WHAT   OF    AUSTRALIA? 

great  factors  then,  were,  of  course,  the  imperial 
governments  of  Russia,  Germany,  Japan  and 
England,  the  royal  one  of  Holland,  and  three 
republics,  France,  China  and  ourselves.  In  this 
connection,  perhaps  it  is  timely  to  remark  that 
there  are  folk  who  plausibly  maintain  that  Eng- 
land is  more  of  a  republic  than  is  ours,  possess- 
ing, as  she  does,  far  more  checks  on  executive 
personal  power,  and  a  more  promptly  responsive 
form  of  representative  government.  But  the 
most  important  feature  to  be  noticed  in  this  pre- 
war picture  is  that  of  Australia's  standing  within 
the  British  Empire,  at  least  as  it  seemed  to 
friendly  outsiders.  Wasn't  it  fair  to  assume  that 
when  Australians  refused  to  permit  the  landing 
of  Hindoo  citizens  of  British  India,  she  caused 
concern  in  Downing  Street,  that  centre  from 
which  pumps  out  and  to  which  returns  the  em- 
pire's heart-blood  that  colors  the  Union  Jack? 
Wasn't  even  more  concern  superinduced  there 
by  Australia's  coolness  toward  the  Anglo-Japa- 
nese alliance  then  so  popular  in  London?  Nor 
did  Canada  differ  in  her  embarrassing  stand 
upon  Japanese  immigration  from  the  views  of 
Australia,  which,  by  the  way,  agreed  completely 
with  those  of  our  westernmost  states. 

What  I  am  trying  to  accentuate  is  that  before 
the  war  many  friendly  outsiders  could  not  help 


AND   WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA?         287 

noting  that  the  Japanese  immigration  policy  of 
Australia  and  Canada,  so  like  that  of  California, 
differed  materially  from  the  views  of  English- 
men in  London  dispassionately  considering  a 
distant  theory,  and  not  a  next-door  condition. 
What  was  going  to  result  within  the  Empire 
from  that  pregnant  difference  of  policy?  Aus- 
tralia, then  the  jingo  of  the  British  household, 
was  certainly  causing  worry  to  her  steadier  old 
world  cousins  at  home  who,  honorably  following 
British  traditions  of  desiring  peace  throughout 
the  earth  were,  therefore,  responsible  for  a 
courteous  consideration  of  the  Japanese  point  of 
view.  Australia,  of  course,  was  loyally  British 
to  the  core,  but  upon  certain  questions  of  im- 
perial foreign  policy  it  was  clear  that  she  had 
nothing  like  the  complete  approval  and  backing 
of  the  Empire  that  she  commands  to-day,  thanks 
to  her  magnificent  response  to  the  homeland's 
need  in  the  war,  and  also  to  the  readjustment  of 
matters  international  in  her  neighborhood. 

So  much  for  Australia  and  Canada  before  the 
war,  and  now  for  one  other  important  detail 
to  complete  our  pre-war  picture.  The  United 
States  then  had  an  efficient  navy,  but  our  army 
was  so  small  and  so  lacking  in  plans  for  expan- 
sion, that  other  nations  disregarded  it  in  their 
calculations.  Furthermore,  most  other  nations 


288         AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA? 

(including  the  Germans!)  credited  us  with  such 
lust  for  commercial  gain  as  completely  to  write 
off  our  ability,  even  if  urgent  need  arose,  to  raise 
a  modern  army,  with  all  that  means  in  numbers, 
technical  training  and  equipment.  Some  even 
said  we  were  too  money-mad  to  fight.  Thank 
God,  our  America  of  to-day  is  once  more  the 
America  of  our  heroic  forefathers ! 

To  recapitulate, — before  the  war  the  Pacific 
Ocean  was  surrounded  by  four  imperial  govern- 
ments (Russia,  Germany,  Japan  and  England), 
one  royal  one  (Holland)  and  three  republics. 
China  and  the  United  States  were  generally  con- 
sidered hopelessly  and  ana?mically  pacific,  and 
Holland  equally  negligible  as  an  international 
power.  Australia  and  Western  Canada  were 
mere  colonial  outposts  of  the  British  Empire, 
both  sidestepping  the  Empire's  policy  toward 
Hindoos  and  Japanese.  So  much  for  what 
used  to  be  true,  only  a  very  few  (but  hideous!) 
years  ago.  Then  came  the  war,  focussing  the 
brain  power  of  the  nations  upon  the  Military 
Monster  of  Central  Europe. 

But  now,  turning  our  eyes  away  from  the 
bloody  battlefields  of  Europe,  and  looking  west- 
ward again  across  that  vast  stretch  of  water 
which,  during  a  ghastly  half  decade,  especially 
merited  its  name  of  Pacific,  what  do  we  see? — 


AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA?         289 

nothing  more  striking  and  significant  than  the 
sturdy  Anglo-Saxon  island  power  of  the  South 
Seas,  at  last  come  to  its  own ! 

Gone  from  the  picture  entirely  is  Germany, 
leaving  behind  her,  in  many  a  coral  island  form- 
erly an  earthly  paradise,  the  ugly  stain  of  her 
brutal  exploitation  of  the  tractable  aborigines. 
Do  you  know  about  the  copra  trade,  something 
which  touches  the  Australasian  islands  very 
closely?  That  brilliant  writer  of  honest  spirit, 
Charles  Edward  Russell,  has  recently  described 
in  "After  the  Whirlwind"  how  Germany,  realiz- 
ing the  growing  world  need  for  vegetable  fats, 
and  also  the  hitherto  undeveloped  possibilities  of 
the  South  Sea  Islands  for  copra  (the  oil-produc- 
ing rind  of  the  dried  cocoanut),  deliberately  dra- 
gooned island  labor  by  commanding  her  islanders 
to  long  terms  at  hard  labor  on  trumped-up 
charges  of  infracting  unknown  German  colonial 
laws.  This  colonial  application  of  Deutchland 
Ueber  Alles  was  already  returning  such  hand- 
some dividends  to  Berlin  as  to  ensure  its  rapid 
spread  wherever  the  Prussian  flag  waved  over 
those  distant  "places  in  the  sun."  Germany  has 
gone  from  the  Pacific,  and  many  a  poor  slave  of 
her  colonial  system  joins  in  the  general  inter- 
national relief  that  her  "government  for  the 
governors"  has  disappeared.  Poor  Russia,  the 


290         AND   WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA? 

victim  of  half-baked  idealism,  that  far  worse 
curse  than  autocratic  militarism,  is  so  engrossed 
in  national  suicide  as  to  be  removed  for  many  a 
long  day  from  serious  international  consideration 
on  the  Pacific.  Not  even  the  most  advanced 
Japanese  jingo  can  longer  claim  it  necessary  to 
increase  or  maintain  naval  or  military  estimates 
upon  the  patriotic  ground  of  defense  against  a 
threatening  Russia.  No,  so  far  as  Japan  is  con- 
cerned, she  need  no  longer  anticipate  any  aggres- 
sion from  either  Russia  or  Germany,  and  need 
only  fear  jingoes  at  home  who  may  urge  aggres- 
sion on  her  own  part.  This  is  a  time  for  every 
nation  to  put  the  soft  pedal  on  its  jingoes — the 
times  are  not  opportune.  As  for  China,  is  her 
position  any  more  significant  to-day  than  before 
the  war?  Frankly,  the  so-called  Republic  of 
China  cuts  no  greater  international  figure  now 
than  did  ever  their  Imperial  Government  before 
the  war. 

The  position  of  our  sister  republic,  France,  in 
the  Far  East,  remains  the  same  to-day  that  it 
was  before  the  Germans  broke  loose  in  Europe. 
In  Pacific  matters  we  come  into  court  with 
cleaner  hands,  because,  while  France  took  great 
territory  from  defenseless  China,  we  never  did 
and  never  will.  We  have  seen  that,  as  a  result  of 
the  war,  Japan  has  gained  a  number  of  Pacific 


AND   WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA?         291 

islands  formerly  under  the  German  flag,  she 
having  been  made  mandatory  for  all  those  north 
of  the  Equator.  Many  American  friends  of 
Japan  are  hopeful  that  wiser  counsels  will  later 
prevail  in  Tokyo,  and  that  this  long  step  of  1,400 
miles  eastward,  open  to  so  much  evil  misunder- 
standing, will  be  avoided  by  Japan's  turning  the 
current  of  her  expansion  northwesterly  instead 
of  southeasterly.  Such  an  alteration  would  re- 
move misunderstanding  here,  and  improve  her 
relations  with  Australia. 

And  what  of  Australia? 

This  of  her — that  those  who  wish  intelligently 
to  know  of  the  probable  future  of  Pacific  Ocean 
affairs  will  do  well  to  study  her  and  watch  her 
development.  Thus  will  they  learn  to  look  upon 
the  Australian  Continent  and  her  sister  islands, 
New  Zealand,  Tasmania,  etc.,  much  as  Burke 
and  other  far-sighted  Englishmen  regarded  the 
British  colonies  along  the  American  seaboard 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  The  parallel 
between  Australia  of  to-day  and  the  American 
colonies  in  1776  is  striking.  We  are  apt  to  think 
of  her  as  distant  from  England  and  small  in 
population.  She  is  as  near  in  days'  travel  to 
London  as  was  our  eastern  seaboard  in  1776. 
We  were  then  three  million  people,  less  homo- 
geneous in  race  than  are  the  five  million  British- 


292         AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA? 

ers  that  people  Australia  and  her  sister  islands. 
All  of  those  forefathers  of  ours  were  peculiarly 
men  and  women  of  initiative — if  they  had  not 
been,  they  would  have  stayed  quietly  at  home 
and  not  braved  the  terrors  of  the  long  Atlantic 
voyage  and  the  invasion  of  the  unknown  wilder- 
ness. Initiative  is  to-day  the  outstanding  char- 
acteristic of  the  Australians,  and  upon  it  they 
are  laying  the  firm  foundations  of  a  great  people. 
Every  great  nation  shows  a  jealous  desire  to 
keep  its  blood  pure,  and  this  is  markedly  true  of 
the  British  and  of  the  Japanese  alike.  In  no 
part  of  the  British  Empire  is  insistence  upon 
racial  purity  more  pronounced  than  in  Aus- 
tralia, whose  most  popular  and  successful  po- 
litical slogan  is  "White  Australia!"  Although 
this  means  exclusion  of  Asiatic  immigration, 
and  is,  therefore,  criticized  by  Japanese  publi- 
cists, they  cannot  deny  that  they  also  exhibit  a 
similar  pride  of  race.  The  Chinese  intermarry 
everywhere  with  any  race,  but  the  Japanese  do 
so  but  seldom.  This  is  very  noticeable  in  South 
America,  for  wherever  Chinese  settle  mixture 
of  race  ensues,  but  not  so  with  the  Japanese. 
The  policy  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  cousins  in  the 
South  Seas  to  preserve  a  "White  Australia"  af- 
fords reassuring  proof  that  their  great  continent 
will  remain  a  white  stronghold,  with  a  popula- 


AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA?          293 

tion  undiluted  by  Eurasian  offspring  so  common 
in  other  Far  Eastern  parts. 

So  earnestly  do  I  believe  in  the  present  and 
future  greatness  of  Australia  as  to  consider  it  an 
important  factor  ill  eliminating  the  one  great 
stumbling-block  to  cordial  friendship  between 
our  people  and  the  Japanese — the  illusion  called 
the  "Yellow  Peril."  And  as  an  antidote  to  this 
illusion,  what  of  Australia?  Throughout  Cali- 
fornia, Oregon  and  Washington,  the  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  those  non-partisan  aggregations 
of  the  best  business  minds  of  each  community, 
are  peculiarly  public-spirited  and  efficiently  ac- 
tive, even  for  American  commercial  bodies.  I 
found  those  of  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco  and 
Portland  particularly  interested  in  building  up 
direct  trade  with  Australia.  This  opens  the 
way  to  their  realization  of  Australia  as  a  Yel- 
low Peril  antidote.  New  ships  were  being  de- 
voted to  carrying  the  products  of  the  Pacific 
slope  direct  to  Sydney,  Melbourne  and  other 
Australasian  ports,  and  the  local  newspapers 
were  constantly  printing  articles  and  editorials 
upon  the  increasing  importance  of  those  dis- 
tant markets.  The  growing  interest  in  this 
trade  along  our  western  coast  will  inevitably 
produce  a  widely  diffused  knowledge  there  of  the 
enhanced  significance  within  the  British  Empire 


294         AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA? 

now  enjoyed  by  post-war  Australia.  The  sooner 
that  knowledge  comes  to  all  those  wide-awake 
western  Americans  described  above,  the  sooner 
will  they  understand  how  like  their  own  is  the 
attitude  toward  the  Asiatic  races  of  our  sturdy 
Anglo-Saxon  friends  of  Australia,  that  new 
front  of  the  British  Empire,  and  what  that 
unanimity  of  policy  means  for  all  participants. 
This  knowledge  should  as  certainly  relieve  them 
from  even  subconscious  dread  of  a  Japanese  in- 
vasion, as  the  collapse  of  Russia  surely  cancels 
the  argument  of  Japanese  jingoes  for  maintain- 
ing or  increasing  their  military  and  naval  scale 
of  preparedness. 

The  Japanese  know  well  that  the  attitude  of 
the  great  continent  to  the  south  of  her  is  the  same 
as  that  of  our  people  upon  Asiatic  immigration. 
The  shrewd  Japanese  also  know  far  better  than 
we  that,  since  the  war,  the  British  Empire  in  all 
its  vast  strength  stands  solidly  with  the  Aus- 
tralians, and  that  the  continent  of  the  Southern 
Cross  is  no  longer  regarded  as  merely  a  colonial 
outpost  of  the  great  Empire,  but  has  become  that 
Empire's  Pacific  front  on  the  east,  just  as  Can- 
ada is  her  front  on  the  west.  Japanese  news- 
papers have  rung  with  comment  upon  Admiral 
Jellicoe's  epoch-marking  recommendations  that 
the  great  base  of  the  British  fleet  be  moved  from 


AND    WHAT    OF    AUSTRALIA?         295 

the  North  Sea  to  Singapore,  that  important 
gateway  to  the  Pacific.  Much  as  English  and 
Americans  may  criticize  each  other  (for  criti- 
cism is  a  favorite  Anglo-Saxon  family  sport), 
no  Japanese  is  so  silly  as  to  give  an  instant's 
credence  to  the  idea  that  a  Yellow  Peril  could 
be  directed  at  either  of  the  great  English-speak- 
ing countries  without  immediately  drawing  the 
other  one  into  its  support.  The  admirable  Bal- 
four  spoke  of  the  "Race  Patriotism  of  the  An- 
glo-Saxons," and  there  is  no  gainsaying  it.  The 
new  war-won  position  of  Australia  and  New 
Zealand  in  the  British  Empire  completes  the 
answer  to  the  Yellow  Peril  illusion,  and  nowhere 
is  this  to-day  better  understood  than  in  Japan. 

And  what,  in  conclusion,  of  Australia? 

In  1867  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke  predicted 
that  "the  relations  of  America  and  Australia 
will  be  the  key  to  the  future  of  the  Pacific,"  and 
so  I  believe  them  to  be.  Our  relations  are  of  the 
best,  and,  thanks  to  the  initiative  of  our  west 
coast  cities,  are  sure  to  grow  better  and  better. 
Americans  returning  from  France  tell  of  Aus- 
tralian soldiers  saluting  American  officers  in 
preference  to  all  others,  just  out  of  sheer  friend- 
liness and  comprehension  of  the  similarity  be- 
tween our  types  of  manhood  and  points  of  view. 
We  may  confidently  look  forward  to  the  same 


296         AND    WHAT    OF   AUSTRALIA? 

comfortable  relations  with  the  vigorous  young 
Australasian  people  that  characterizes  our  neigh- 
borliness  with  Canada,  all  of  us  speaking  the 
same  language  and  enjoying  similar  free  in- 
stitutions. 

The  more  Australians,  and  also  Canadians, 
grow  and  strengthen,  the  better  for  peace  on  the 
Pacific.  Already,  they,  plus  our  new  military 
preparedness,  afford  an  antidote  for  Japanese 
aggression  against  us  or  any  other  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, and  that  in  itself  is  a  complete  argument  in 
favor  of  cordiality  between  us  and  the  Land  of 
the  Rising  Sun,  which  will  definitely  justify  the 
name  so  long  borne  by  the  vast  western  ocean. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

THE  most  important  step  toward  the  formula- 
tion of  a  foreign  policy  is  a  due  consideration  of 
the  point  of  view  entertained  by  the  people  with 
whom  that  policy  will  have  to  do.  Even  sup- 
posing that  one's  intentions  are  of  the  best,  we 
must  ascertain  what  the  other  fellow  is  going  to 
think  about  them.  This  means  that  we  should 
know  him  sufficiently  well  to  understand  his 
manner  of  thought.  To  that  end  we  have  con- 
sidered together  in  the  foregoing  pages  observa- 
tions upon  the  life  and  customs  of  the  Japanese 
so  as  to  learn  something  from  them  of  his  thought 
processes,  especially  in  those  two  fundamentals 
which  in  any  nation  command  its  finest  minds — 
religion  and  aesthetics.  We  have  also  pointed 
out  the  greatly  increased  importance  of  Aus- 
tralia within  the  British  Empire,  and  what  would 
seem  to  be  the  consequences,  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned.  Perhaps  it  may  seem  to  the  reader 
that  too  much  space  has  been  given  to  showing 
how  the  Japanese  mind  expresses  itself  in  gar- 

297 


298  SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

dens  and  religious  pilgrimages  and  other  ob- 
servances, but  our  excuse  must  be  a  desire  to  let 
Americans  see  how  Japanese  thought  functions 
along  two  such  intimate  lines.  After  some  com- 
prehension of  the  Japanese  point  of  view  upon 
those  characteristic  features  of  his  civilization,  it 
becomes  easier  so  to  adjust  our  own  thought  as 
to  make  hopeful  an  attempt  to  harmonize  our 
foreign  policies  toward  the  Far  East  with  Ori- 
ental views  and  aspirations.  It  is  idle  to  pretend 
that  our  points  of  view  are  even  similar.  Our 
own  civilization,  religion  and  individual  training 
differ  widely  from  those  of  Japan,  and  theirs 
has  lasted  many  centuries  longer  than  ours. 
Some  things  of  which  we  strongly  disapprove 
have  been  long  inculcated  in  the  training  of  their 
youth,  and  vice  versa.  If  one  is  not  prepared  to 
investigate  the  great  problems  that  are  arising 
and  will  arise  about  the  Pacific  with  an  open 
mind  upon  matters  social  as  well  as  national,  he 
had  best  give  up  the  study  in  advance,  admit  he 
is  a  small  man,  and  remain  quietly  at  home  close 
to  his  village  pump.  Be  prepared  to  balance 
national  inequalities,  or  keep  away  from  the 
Pacific.  And,  for  veracity's  sake!  don't  start 
out  with  any  such  exploded  theory  as  that  all 
men  are  born  equal,  for  least  of  anywhere  is  this 
true  across  the  wrestern  ocean.  Nor  does  it  mat- 


SOME    CONCLUSIONS  299 

ter  in  the  slightest  how  unequal  are  individuals 
or  nations  if  only  the  observer  is  ready  to  balance 
their  inequalities  with  the  same  whole-souled  in- 
terest in  their  satisfactory  combination  that  the 
Japanese  show  in  their  arrangement  of  flowers. 
An  excellent  relation  existed  between  our  peo- 
ple and  the  Japanese  in  1905,  one  which  perhaps 
benefited  them  materially  more  than  it  did  us, 
but  unfortunately  a  marked  change  has  since 
then  developed  which  has  benefited  neither  in 
any  way.  Changes  should  be  made  in  our  re- 
spective foreign  policies  which  will  benefit  both. 
Why  not?  When  is  discord  more  advantageous 
than  harmony?  It  is  my  belief  that  the  Japanese 
are  now  going  more  than  half  way  to  meet  us. 
The  admirable  Gentlemen's  Agreement,  under- 
taken by  the  Japanese  themselves  when  the  in- 
comparable Elihu  Root  was  our  Secretary  of 
State,  checked  an  excessive  incursion  here  of 
Japanese  labor  whose  lower  standard  of  living 
was  producing  such  unfortunate  friction  with 
American  labor.  Recently,  when  an  increasing 
influx  of  Japanese  wives  for  their  laborers 
residing  here  revived  the  unfortunate  friction, 
again  their  Government,  on  its  own  initiative, 
provided  a  reasonable  check  by  adding  a  Ladies' 
Agreement  to  the  already  existing  Gentlemen's 
Agreement,  and  are  withholding  passports  from 


300  SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

these  so-called  "picture  brides,"  just  as  they 
formerly  arranged  to  do  from  their  laboring 
men  desirous  of  entering  the  higher-paid  field  of 
American  labor.  Those  two  acts  showed  good 
faith  and  good  judgment,  and  we  can  safely  do 
business  with  people  possessing  those  two  funda- 
mental traits  of  character.  Certain  Japanese 
newspapers  have  attacked  their  government  for 
this  Ladies'  Agreement,  but  then,  most  unfor- 
tunately, newspapers  of  both  our  countries  are 
nowadays  constantly  attacking  the  other's  peo- 
ple and  their  good  faith,  and  also  anyone  in  their 
own  country  who  prefers  peace  to  bitterness. 
This  hostility  of  the  Yellow  Press  of  both  coun- 
tries toward  any  attempt  to  better  our  relations 
is  what  golfers  would  call  "a  rub  of  the  green" 
or  a  "hazard"  in  the  course  which,  although  it 
cannot  be  ignored,  should  not  be  allowed  un- 
duly to  delay  our  progress. 

Our  commerce  would  be  greatly  benefited  by 
a  better  understanding  with  the  Japanese,  for  it 
would  thereby  be  aided  to  enter  and  develop 
Asian  markets  by  cooperation  from  such  nearby 
experts  as  the  intelligent  traders  of  the  Island 
Kingdom.  As  fellow  Orientals  they  know  those 
markets'  needs  and  limitations  much  better  than 
distant  Occidentals  like  ourselves.  Whether  our 
statesmen  (or  even  our  politicians)  are  begin- 


SOME    CONCLUSIONS  301 

ning  to  realize  this  or  not,  our  business  men  cer- 
tainly are  alive  to  its  valuable  possibilities,  and 
unless  those  who  should  lead  public  thought  get 
into  step  with  this  movement — already  a  large 
and  steadily  growing  one — they  risk  losing  their 
position  as  leaders  in  that  profitable  procession. 
And  these  forward-looking  exporters  of  ours  will 
before  long  exercise  their  influence  as  paying 
advertisers  upon  our  newspapers  so  as  to  modify 
and  ultimately  to  terminate  their  present  un- 
profitable attacks  upon  everything  Japanese. 
These  newspapers  are  guessing  wrong,  and 
American  newspapers  know  their  business  too 
well  to  guess  wrong  for  long! 

Every  business  man  in  our  land  knows  the 
menace  to  honest  enterprise  which  lies  in  the 
Bolshevik  movement.  He  knows  that  it  origi- 
nates in  Russia,  but  that  it  must  be  combated 
here  in  order  to  protect  the  civilization  we  in- 
herited from  our  fathers.  But  does  every  Ameri- 
can business  man  realize  that  there  is  an  un- 
checked outlet  of  this  Bolshevik  movement  upon 
the  Pacific  Ocean?  and  that  unless  Japan  checks 
it  in  Eastern  Siberia  it  will  fly  outward,  seeking 
its  prey,  prosperity,  wherever  it  can  be  found? 
A  great  service  can  be  rendered  to  civilization 
by  stopping  this  Siberian  outlet  of  anarchy,  and 
because  the  Japanese  are  the  only  ones  who  can 


302  SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

perform  this  service,  all  law-abiding  men  should 
encourage  them  to  do  so.  I  believe  it  would  be 
a  fine  thing  for  international  law  and  order  if 
Japan  should  occupy  Eastern  Siberia  and  there 
set  up  such  a  dam  against  the  outflow  of  law- 
lessness as  would  be  afforded  by  her  excellently 
functioning  Government  which  is  to-day  assur- 
ing prosperity,  liberty  and  the  right  to  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  to  her  millions  of  industrious 
and  frugal  citizens.  To  an  American  peculiarly 
interested  in  America's  interests  first,  such  a  step 
would  have  especial  value  if  it  could  be  coupled 
with  the  withdrawal  of  Japan  from  the  Caroline 
and  Marshall  islands,  for  nothing  would  be  more 
effective  in  bettering  our  relations  than  the  ter- 
mination of  that  geographical  threat  to  the  Phil- 
ippines, and  the  substitution  of  a  northwesterly 
Japanese  expansion  so  promising  for  peace,  in 
place  of  a  southeasterly  one  so  fruitful  of  misun- 
derstanding both  with  us  and  the  British  Empire 
as  represented  by  Australasia.  Then,  too,  the 
excessive  preponderance  of  Japanese  in  Hawaii 
is  unfortunate,  but  the  solution  of  this  bother- 
some problem  can  safely  be  left  to  the  sagacious 
good  taste  of  such  a  Government  as  the  one 
which  has  so  wisely  announced  the  Ladies' 
Agreement.  If  these  changes  could  be  effected, 
then  Japan  would  appear  revealed  to  the  cap- 


SOME    CONCLUSIONS  303 

italists,  the  laborers  and  the  business  men  of 
America  as  the  bulwark  of  decent  civilization 
against  the  Bolsheviki  in  Siberia  and  as  a  profit- 
able friend  and  ally  in  the  vast  field  of  Asian 
markets  which  she  understands  so  well. 

But  there  is  one  error  in  our  Far  Eastern 
policy  that  these  same  serious  folk  of  the  United 
States  should  undertake  to  correct — we  are  not 
and  never  should  have  been  a  nursery  governess 
for  China!  We  are  not  called  upon  especially 
to  protect  the  integrity  of  her  territory,  if  indeed 
there  be  any  left  to  protect.  We  can't  warn 
the  whole  world  off  our  hemisphere  through  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  and  at  the  same  time  dictate 
to  Japan  or  any  other  power  what  they  must 
not  do  in  China.  It  is  dangerous  nonsense,  and 
it  is  bad  business.  If  we  go  into  a  consortium, 
then  we  should  assist  to  carry  out  its  protective 
terms  to  the  uttermost,  but  unless  and  until 
we  do,  we  ought  to  mind  our  own  business  in 
China. 

Here  is  outlined  a  Far  Eastern  policy  that  is 
fair  to  all  because  it  honestly  takes  into  account 
the  viewpoint  of  all  concerned.  It  will  work, 
and  it  will  work  for  American  labor  as  effective- 
ly as  for  American  capital.  We  don't  want  any 
territory  in  the  Far  East,  but  we  do  want  an 
increasing  share  of  her  markets,  sure  to  benefit 


304*  SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

our  labor  and  capital  alike,  and  better  relations 
with  Japan  inevitably  lead  to  so  desirable  and 
profitable  a  result. 

Although  we  do  not  desire  territory  in  the 
Far  East,  there  is  a  tract  which  we  should  try 
to  purchase,  and,  although  it  lies  on  our  side  of 
the  Pacific,  it  can  properly  be  discussed  along 
with  a  Far  Eastern  policy.  That  tract  is  Lower 
California,  which  we  should  seek  to  purchase 
from  Mexico.  It  lies  well  off  her  coast,  but,  for 
her,  possesses  little  or  no  value.  Geographically 
it  is  already  a  part  of  California,  and  should 
become  so  politically.  In  colonial  times  East 
Hampton  and  neighboring  towns  of  eastern 
Long  Island  were  part  of  New  Haven  colony 
across  Long  Island  Sound,  because  close  to  it 
by  sail  and  far  removed  from  New  York  City, 
distant  because  of  bad  or  no  roads.  So  Lower 
California  used  to  be  nearer  to  the  Mexican 
mainland  than  to  American  territory  to  the 
north,  but  just  as  the  bettering  of  inland 
communication  naturally  swung  eastern  Long 
Island  into  a  New  York  affiliation,  so  a  railroad 
down  the  length  of  Lower  California  would 
make  mainland  Mexico  seem  distant  by  com- 
parison with  San  Diego  and  her  neighborhood. 
This  territorial  purchase  would  remove  a  possi- 


SOME    CONCLUSIONS  305 

ble  element  of  friction  in  our  Far  Eastern  rela- 
tions because  it  would  prevent  repetition  of  an 
unfortunate  incident  which  accompanied  Japan's 
presentation  of  her  twenty-one  demands  upon 
China  in  1915.  The  Japanese  Minister  to  China, 
Mr.  Hioki,  received  those  demands  from  his 
Government  in  December,  1914,  and  it  was  not 
until  May  8,  1915,  that  the  Chinese  Government 
formally  accepted  them.  By  an  interesting  co- 
incidence the  Japanese  cruiser  "Asama"  ran  on 
a  mudbank  in  Turtle  Bay  on  the  coast  of  Lower 
California  in  December,  1914,  and  was  not  com- 
pletely refloated  and  repaired  until  June,  1915, 
meanwhile  being  attended  by  from  seven  to  ten 
Japanese  warships  and  sundry  auxiliary  vessels. 
The  American  fleet  was  at  that  time  in  the 
Atlantic.  From  the  time  that  Minister  Hioki 
received  the  twenty-one  demands  for  delivery  to 
the  Chinese  Government  until  after  they  were 
acceded  to  by  it,  there  was  a  strong  Japanese 
fleet  near  that  weak  point  in  our  western  coast, 
the  outlet  of  the  Colorado  River,  which  is  the 
Nile  of  our  far  west.  This  points  to  the  need 
for  our  purchase  of  Lower  California.  The 
whole  transaction  of  which  the  twenty-one  de- 
mands formed  part  is  disapproved  by  business- 
men and  by  many  political  leaders  in  Japan  who 
blame  it  to  the  militarists.  It  is  doubtful  if, 


306  SOME    CONCLUSIONS 

after  such  a  bungling  misplay,  those  militarists 
will  again  be  in  a  position  to  make  such  an  ill- 
judged  move.  But  it  is  just  as  well  to  admit 
service  of  their  notice  by  removing  the  tempta- 
tion again  to  concentrate  a  strong  foreign  naval 
force  in  the  Gulf  of  California  so  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Colorado  River  development  and  trans- 
continental railroad  lines.  The  upper  end  of 
that  gulf  needs  protection,  and  the  purchase  of 
Lower  California  is  essential  to  that  protection. 
We  should  press  negotiations  for  the  purchase 
of  this  tract,  so  useless  to  Mexico  and  remote 
from  her  mainland,  and  yet  so  close  to  us  and 
so  strategically  important. 

The  foregoing  suggestions  outline  diplomatic 
steps  comparatively  easy  of  achievement,  and 
fruitful  of  great  good  not  only  for  our  own 
people  but  also  for  all  the  Oriental  peoples  they 
affect.  No  "jug-handled"  deals  are  here  pro- 
posed, because  agreements  benefiting  only  one 
side  do  not  last  long.  The  other  man's  point  of 
view  must  be  considered  in  every  transaction,  as 
any  successful  business  man  will  tell  you — he 
knows  it  is  the  only  way  to  build  up  a  substantial 
business.  It  would  be  better  if  more  statesmen 
learned  what  it  means  both  of  integrity  and  also 


SOME    CONCLUSIONS  307 

of  sagacious  foresight  to  build  up  a  substantial 
business,  for  it  is  along  similar  broad  and 
friendly  lines  that  there  should  be  readjusted 
and  built  up  our  Far  Eastern  policy. 


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